DEL MAR, Calif. - Laurel River’s runaway victory in his two-turn debut in a first-level allowance going one mile on Monday at Del Mar could earn him a berth in the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again Oct. 2 at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday.
“I think I’ll nominate him to the Awesome Again,” Baffert said. “He needed to go long. He’s not very big, so I had kept him short, but his work before this race was phenomenal. He woke up.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – The victory by Pinehurst in the Del Mar Futurity on Monday, the belief that Murray is far better than he showed in that race, and the emergence of runaway maiden winner Corniche on Saturday gives trainer Bob Baffert a number of top 2-year-old male prospects heading into the fall.
Trying to get those horses – and perhaps talented maidens like Enbarr and Rhetoric – to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Nov. 5 at Del Mar will require Baffert to look beyond the obvious California-based prep, the Grade 1, $300,000 American Pharoah, on Oct. 1 at Santa Anita.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Del Mar averaged a record all-sources daily handle of $18.38 million at the 31-day summer meeting that ended on Monday. Business was strong enough for track officials to state that a significant purse increase is planned for the November autumn meeting.
The average daily handle, which includes ontrack, satellite, and, most importantly, account-wagering sources, surpassed the previous mark of $17.32 million set during a 27-day summer meeting in 2020 conducted without ontrack customers because of the pandemic.
DEL MAR, Calif. -- A largely formful sequence in the Rainbow 6 on closing-day Monday at Del Mar resulted in 8,238 winning tickets, each worth $561.74 for the 20-cent base wager.
Owing to it being closing day, there was a mandatory forceout, and bettors added $5,153,317 to the $694,803 that was carried over from previous days.
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- The unexpected shower that fell here shortly before 1 p.m. Monday afternoon was emblematic of the summer it’s been in Saratoga, one in which 45 races scheduled for turf were rained off to the dirt.
The blue skies and sunshine that moved the rain out 20 minutes later also was befitting the type of summer it’s been here with sensational racing resulting in box-office business and bringing Saratoga out of the COVID cloud that forced fans to be prohibited from attending the 2020 meet.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockeys Abel Cedillo and Umberto Rispoli were fined by Del Mar stewards on Sunday for excessive use of the whip in races on Saturday.
Cedillo was fined $750 for using the whip more than the allowed six times in a race on Augusta Melody, the second-place finisher by a neck in the third race. This was Cedillo’s second such infraction in the last two months.
Rispoli was fined $500 for using his whip in a striking motion above the shoulder aboard Dogtag, who finished second in the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Hot Rod Charlie is on schedule for a start in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 25. Hot Rod Charlie, third in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 and second in the Belmont Stakes on June 5, hasn’t raced since finishing first in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 17. He was disqualified for causing interference and placed seventh.
Trainer Doug O’Neill briefly considered running Hot Rod Charlie in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 21, but decided to train him into the Pennsylvania Derby.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Grace Adler gave Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert a record 10th win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sunday. Going into the race, Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas had each won the race nine times.
Baffert won his first Debutante in 1995 with Batroyale and has won the last three runnings.
History shows that Baffert’s Debutante winners command attention in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita, a $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles that will be run on Oct. 1. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies is another matter.
DEL MAR, Calif. – One measure of the brilliance of the upstart colt Flightline is that his two wins in as many races have come by a combined 26 lengths. Another is his Beyer Speed Figures of 105 for his debut and 114 for his win in an allowance race at Del Mar on Sunday.
Flightline ($2.40) was prominent throughout the six-furlong race, pulling clear on the turn and winning by 12 3/4 lengths in 1:08.05. Flightline’s Beyer equals the highest of the year in the nation. At Saratoga on Saturday, Baby Yoda earned a 114 for a win in an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs.
FRANKLIN, Ky. – The weight assignment for Got Stormy in the Turf Sprint on Saturday at Kentucky Downs has been adjusted from 125 pounds to 122 after racing officials credited her with an industry-standard three-pound allowance that goes to a filly or mare facing male rivals. She was listed at 125 on the Saturday overnight.
Got Stormy, fresh off a victory in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, will be turning back from a mile to six furlongs.
