DEL MAR NOTES

MIKE STIDHAM SET TO DOUBLE UP IN OAKS

Trainer Mike Stidham looked to be double tough in the upcoming back-to-back turf stakes for three-year-old fillies, Friday’s $80,000 Sandy Blue and Saturday’s Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Oaks.

Stidham had Zipessa entered in both stakes, the 2-1 favorite on oddsmaker Russ Hudak’s morning line for the Sandy Blue, and Her Emmynency entered in the Oaks. The Sandy Blue is a one mile race, the Oaks 1 1/8th.

Thursday morning, Stidham said he’ll be doubling down all right, but only in the Oaks.

“The owners have decided they want to run (Zipessa) in the Oaks,” Stidham said at his Barn MM stable office.

Zipessa, a daughter of City Zip purchased for $67,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky sale in October of 2013, was unraced at two, but has started her career with two victories this year. She won a maiden special event at Arlington Park on May 31 by 6 ¾ lengths and followed up with a 2 ¾-length victory in an optional claimer here on July 17, the second day of the summer meeting.

Meet leading jockey Rafael Bejarano had the call on Zipessa for the Sandy Blue and Her Emmynency for the Oaks. Flavien Prat will take over aboard Zipessa, owned by a partnership headed by Patrick Gallagher, for the Oaks.

Her Emmynency performed well making her career debut at Del Mar last year. The daughter of Successful Appeal, owned by Ike and Dawn Thrash, won a maiden special in early August and finished second to Sunset Glow in the Del Mar Debutante. Her return here, after victories at Santa Anita in October and Arlington Park in June, was a disappointing last of six in the Grade II San Clemente Handicap on July 19.

Oaks entrants Prize Exhibit, Sunset Glow and Paulina’s Love were the 1-2-3 finishers in the one-mile San Clemente.

The field for the Oaks from the rail: Majestic Heat (Corey Nakatani, 15-1), Paulina’s Love (Tyler Baze, 12-1), Rattataptap (Mike Smith, 12-1), Sharla Rae (James Graham, 6-1), Her Emmynency (Rafael Bejarano, 4-1), Prize Exhibit (Santiago Gonzalez, 5-2), Zipessa (Flavien Prat, 4-1) and Sunset Glow (Gary Stevens, 3-1).


AWARDS, SILLY AND SERIOUS, AT THE MEETING’S MIDPOINT

Wednesday was Day 20 of the 40 day meeting. So, it’s halftime ladies and gentlemen!

And in keeping with the current trend of sports media, print and electric, here are some halfway point awards, both silly and serious.

Prankster of the Half (OTH) – Mother Nature. It was just hilarious how she dumped bucket after bucket of water on Del Mar on the first Saturday of the meeting, July 18, and apparently took such delight in the havoc caused that she did it again the next day.

She hadn’t pulled that trick on Del Mar in almost 24 years. And so what if it washed out two Family Fun Days and deprived hundreds of little kids of Webkinz plush horses.

Thanks mom.

Equine Celebrity OTH – American Pharoah. The Triple Crown champion’s daily training exercises here are guaranteed attention grabbers in the stable area and front side. The crowds swell for actual workouts, the next one scheduled Sunday at around 7:45. American Pharoah is destined to join Sunday Silence (1989) and John Henry (late 1980s) in the pantheon of stars to train at Del Mar for major races elsewhere and not run here.

Unlike Sunday Silence and John Henry, however, American Pharoah does have a Del Mar race (actually two) on his record. He started his career here in 2014 with a loss to Om in a maiden race, then came back to win the Del Mar Futurity.

Human Celebrity OTH – Caitlyn Jenner. Her appearance on Opening Day generated more buzz than you could shake a selfie stick at and she proved to be a delight for track CEO Joe Harper to escort. Harper reported Jenner had a good time and expressed an interest in returning some time.

2-Year-old Colt OTH – Nyquist.
2-year-old Filly OTH – Pretty N Cool.
3-year-old Colt OTH – Prospect Park
3-year-old Filly OTH – Prize Exhibit
Older Horse OTH – Catch a Flight
Older Filly or Mare OTH – Beholder
Sprinter OTH – Wild Dude
Grass Horse OTH – Gabriel Charles
Horse OTH – Beholder

Del Mar rookie jockey OTH – Flavien Prat. Three stakes among his 14 wins have him in fourth place for wins and third for money won with more than one million.

Del Mar veteran jockey OTH -- Rafael Bejarano. There are challengers galore in a deeply talented colony, but the three-time defending champion rode his way to the top with 20 wins, two more than hotly-pursuing Tyler Baze. Bejarano also leads in the earnings category with $1,150,002 to Baze’s $1,114,440.

Trainer OTH – Doug O’Neill. A track record five-win day and three stakes victories are part of a 12-win total that gives the four-time training champion a three-win lead over defending co-champions Peter Miller and Jerry Hollendorfer. O’Neill’s $758,820 earnings total is more than $100,000 over that of the closely-bunched Miller and Hollendorfer.

Owner OTH – J. Paul Reddam, whose nine winners have him halfway to the track record of Marion R. Frankel set in 1973.


WARREN’S VENEDA BRUISES FOOT, NIXING CLASSIC NOTIONS

Warren’s Veneda, third to Beholder in the Grade I $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on August 1, has a bruised right front foot. The injury ends the possibility that trainer Craig Lewis was considering of running his stable star in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on August 22.

“It’s nothing serious but we couldn’t have her ready in time for a race that tough,” Lewis said. “We’re hoping that we’ll be able to make the Personal Ensign at Saratoga.”

The $750,000 Personal Ensign, 1 1/8 miles on the dirt for older fillies and mares, is one of seven stakes on the Saratoga card for Sunday, August 29. The feature is the $1.25 million Travers Stakes, the probable next start for American Pharoah.


PACIFIC CLASSIC NOMINATION DEADLINE LOOMS

The deadline for nominations to the Pacific Classic is midnight today. Thursday morning nomination forms had already been submitted for: Catch a Flight, Beholder, Red Vine, Hard Aces, Class Leader, Midnight Storm, Big John B, Imperative, Coach Inge, Bailoutbobby and Effinex.


SEVEN TO GO IN RANCHO BERNARDO, 10 IN SOLANA BEACH

Sunday’s stakes double header drew a field of seven for the $100,000 Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap and 10 for the $150,000 Solana Beach Handicap.

Entered Thursday for the Rancho Bernardo were (in alphabetical order): Baruta, Oscar Party, Sam’s Sister, Taris, Tesalina, Uzziel and Wasted at Midnight.

Entered Thursday for the  Solana Beach were (in alphabetical order): Chati’s On Top, Chaulk O Lattey, Heat Du Jour, Journey On, Kathleen Rose, Long Hot Summer, Mangita, She’s Flush, Shysheisnot and Smoove It.


AMERICAN PHAROAH TODAY

The Triple Crown Champion galloped 1 ½ miles under exercise rider George Alvarez.


CLOSERS – The top finishers in Sunday’s Grade III $150,000 La Jolla Handicap (Prospect Park, Om) and Wednesday’s Grade II $200,000 Sorrento (Pretty N Cool, Gomo) were all reported to have exited the races in good shape. Pretty N Cool and Gomo are expected to meet again in the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, September 5, Prospect Park and Om are scheduled to duel again in the Grade II $250,000 Del Mar Derby on Sunday, September 6 … Selected workouts from 141 officially timed on the dirt and 17 on turf Thursday: Dirt – Bal a Bali (7f, 1:38.80), Twentytwentyvision ((7f, 1:26.80), Ganesh (5f, 1:01.60) and Motown Men (4f, :51.60); Turf – Circling (7f, 1:28.20), Winning Prize (6f, 1:15.00), Talco (6f, 1:14.60), Quick Casablanca (5f, 1:01.80) and Avanzare (5f, 1:00.20) … With four of eight favorites winning Wednesday, the favorite’s winning percentage for the meeting rose to 28.41… The victory aboard Rush of Day in Wednesday’s fourth race was No. 997 in the career of jockey Edwin Maldonado. 


DEL MAR STATISTICS

Jockey Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, August 12, 2015 Inclusive)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% Money Won
Rafael Bejarano 103 20 17 17 19% $1,150,002
Tyler Baze 116 18 20 18 16% $1,114,440
Joseph Talamo 98 16 9 9 16% $892,650
Flavien Prat 95 14 9 16 15% $1,028,852
Mario Gutierrez 59 12 8 4 20% $706,106
Santiago Gonzalez 88 11 8 8 13% $653,926
Corey Nakatani 49 8 6 4 16% $411,006
Kent Desormeaux 51 8 5 9 16% $491,204
Martin Garcia 73 7 8 9 10% $608,620
Martin Pedroza 73 7 6 6 10% $308,836

Trainer Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, August 12, 2015 Inclusive)
Trainer Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% Money Won
Doug F. O'Neill 56 12 11 6 21% $758,820
Peter Miller 71 9 11 9 13% $644,246
Jerry Hollendorfer 46 9 5 6 20% $650,242
Richard Baltas 38 8 5 10 21% $404,702
John W. Sadler 28 8 2 4 29% $397,310
Philip D'Amato 39 7 5 6 18% $485,740
Mike Puype 39 6 3 7 15% $339,750
Adam Kitchingman 16 5 5 0 31% $127,090
Bob Baffert 29 5 3 6 17% $478,940
Jeff Mullins 18 5 2 2 28% $445,882

Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Wednesday, August 12, 2015 Inclusive)
Winning favorites 50 176 28.41%
Winning favorites on dirt 39 123 31.71%
Winning favorites on turf 11 53 20.75%
Winning odds-on favorites 11 20 55.00%
In-the-Money favorites 103 176 58.52%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites 11 20 55.00%