Racing will begin at 2 p.m. Pacific on most days of the Del Mar summer meeting later this year, the track announced on Wednesday.
The decision ends a decades-long tradition of starting Friday programs at 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. The late afternoon Friday programs accommodated post-race concerts, which were discontinued several years ago, and allowed people to attend races into the early evening.
The two-time stakes winner Stark Contrast will miss Sunday’s $100,000 Pasadena Stakes because of a bruised foot and is likely to start in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park on March 21.
The $777,000 Jeff Ruby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles will be the first start on a synthetic track for Stark Contrast, who has won 3 of 5 starts. All his wins have been on turf. In his only loss on the surface, Stark Contrast was second by three-quarters of a length at 58-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – In a racing anomaly Sunday at Oaklawn Park, Publisher pushed his career earnings past $550,000 when he won a maiden special weight. He always looked like a winner in the 1 1/16-mile race, and after stalking the leaders, opened up on the field in the stretch for a 5 3/4-length victory.
The win came in the 13th career start for Publisher, who earned a spot in last year’s Kentucky Derby after running fourth in the Rebel and second in the Arkansas Derby. For his maiden win, the 4-year-old earned a 90 Beyer.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Soldier N Diplomat, who opened his 3-year-old season with a runner-up finish in the Southwest at Oaklawn, is scheduled to make his next start in the track’s Rebel, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday.
The Grade 2, $1 million race, which will be run over 1 1/16 miles, is March 1.
Solider N Diplomat breezed Monday at Oaklawn, going five furlongs on a track rated good in 1:01.60.
“He’s training well, is on target for the Rebel,” Asmussen said.
Two California-breds are Kentucky Derby-dreaming following last Sunday’s $500,000 Sunland Park Derby.
Pavlovian and Express Kid, who finished a nose apart in the race, have both emerged from the Sunland Derby in good order and are bound for another Kentucky Derby points race, their respective trainers, Doug O’Neill and Justin Evans, said Monday.
Pavlovian picked up 20 points for his win at Sunland and sits ninth on the Kentucky Derby standings list administered by Churchill Downs. He was to arrive back at his Santa Anita base Wednesday, according to O’Neill.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – White Abarrio has a spring race objective of the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Monday. The 1 1/8-mile fixture will be run April 18.
White Abarrio is a $7.7 million earner based in South Florida. He launched his 7-year-old season last month with a runner-up finish in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The $2 pick six at Santa Anita on Friday begins with a carryover of $34,288 from Sunday’s program.
The pick six on Friday covers the fourth through ninth races on a program consisting entirely of dirt races. Before scratches, the pick six races have fields of 6, 7, 6, 7, 9, and 7.
There is also a carryover of $64,308 in Friday’s $1 Sunset Six that combines the final three races at Gulfstream Park with the final three races at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The California racing community is mourning the death of Dena Glatt, wife of prominent trainer Mark Glatt, after a recent illness.
Dena Glatt died Feb. 12 at the age of 57.
Raised in Washington state, Dena Carey met Mark Glatt in 1996, the first year of racing at Emerald Downs, near Seattle.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Michael McCarthy won his third stakes at Santa Anita this month with Mondego in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes on Saturday.
The stable could add to that tally soon.
This Sunday, McCarthy will be represented in the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf by Stark Contrast, who leads the division in California.
