DEL MAR NOTES

BING II HAS AN EYE FOR THE LADIES IN SECOND WEEKEND STAKES

Fields of eight were entered Wednesday in the Kathryn Crosby and Betty Grable Stakes on Saturday and Sunday, the highlight events of the second weekend of the second Bing Crosby Fall Season at Del Mar.

It could be categorized as a “Ladies Weekend” from the racing standpoint since a.) Both stakes are named for entertainment industry stars of the mid-20th Century era the Crosby season harks back to and honors; b.) Both stakes are for female runners, Saturday’s $75,000 Kathryn Crosby at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for older fillies and mares, Sunday’s $100,000 Betty Grable at 7 furlongs on the main track restricted to older California-breds.

Both races go as the eighth on nine-race cards starting at 12:30.

The field for the Kathryn Crosby from the rail: Nashoba’s Gold (Mike Smith, 5-1), Three Hearts (Joe Talamo, 7-2), Sweet as a Rose (Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1), Cast in Silver (Martin Garcia, 6-1), Beat of the Drum (Kent Desormeaux, 4-1), Energia Fribby (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1), Chaulk O Lattey (Rafael Bejarano, 3-1) and Full Ransom (Santiago Gonzalez, 12-1).

The field for the Betty Grable from the rail: Kiss At Midnight (Rafael Bejarano), Wonderful Lie (James Graham), Our Pure Creation (Fernando Perez), Wild in the Saddle (Mario Gutierrez), My Monet (Santiago Gonzalez), Yana (Tyler Baze), Harlington’s Rose (Joe Talamo) and Ashley’s Sassy (Alonso Quinonez).


APPRENTICE JOCKEY LOPEZ TO MOVE TACK TO DEL MAR

Apprentice jockey David Lopez, currently the leading rider at the Golden Gate Fields Fall meet, is relocating to Southern California and will compete at Del Mar on Friday.

Lopez has mounts in five of Golden Gate’s seven races today. The 26-year-old has three mounts at Del Mar on Friday and one on Saturday. Agent Dennis Patterson will continue to represent Lopez.

Lopez competed at Monmouth Park, Indiana Downs and Turf Paradise before moving to Northern California in January. Since his arrival, he ranks fourth among jockeys with 84 wins at Golden Gate Fields, despite missing the final week of the Winter/Spring Meet and the entire Summer Meet after suffering a back injury June 6.

Lopez made his return Oct. 22, winning with three of his four mounts. He added another triple on Saturday. His 14 wins so far during the Fall Meet put him seven ahead of second-place rider Russell Baze, who on Sunday returned from a five-day suspension.


GRAHAM MOTION SHIPS IN FOUR FROM CHURCHILL DOWNS

Trainer H. Graham Motion, who won the 2011 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, shipped in four horses from Churchill Downs earlier this week for expected starts during the meeting.

“They’ll be here through early next week and then go on to Santa Anita,” Motion assistant Jack Channon said Thursday morning.

Of the four – Lottie, Whispering Softly, My Senses and Tusk – only Tusk has been entered this week. The 2-year-old Tapit colt, with a runner-up and two third-place finishes in three career starts, is entered in a field of nine in Sunday’s sixth race, a maiden special at a mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.


BREEDERS’ CUP BEHIND, D’AMATO TURNS FOCUS TO DEL MAR

Like several other major trainers, Phil D’Amato spent last week at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., for the Breeders’ Cup Championships.

D’Amato was here Thursday morning, still “trying” to decompress from racing’s $25 million, two-day extravaganza and supervising workouts for the 15 horses he has stabled here.

“I probably have a few more here than I did last year,” D’Amato said. “They’ll be shipping in and out (from his Santa Anita base) through the course of the meeting. I’ll be back and forth from here and there.”

Saturday at Keeneland, D’Amato saddled two-time Del Mar Mile winner Obviously in the $2 million Mile (9th at 18-1 odds) and 2015 Del Mar Handicap winner Big John B in the $3 million Turf (10th at 48-1). Both races were over a grass course softened by heavy rain two days earlier. Obviously, as he had done in the two previous Breeders’ Cup Mile starts, led into the stretch before being overtaken.

“Joe (jockey Joe Talamo) said that when he asked him in the stretch he literally sunk into the turf with the first step,” D’Amato said. “Some horses liked it. Mine didn’t.”

Even with D’Amato out of state, his stable notched two wins here in the opening week of the meeting to put him in a tie with Peter Eurton, John Brocklebank, Bill Spawr, Vladimir Cerin and Kristin Mulhall atop the trainer standings.


SANTIAGO GONZALEZ ENTERS WEEK TWO AS LEADING JOCKEY

Santiago Gonzalez won the first and last races on Sunday’s program. And the last, aboard Swissarella for trainer Vladimir Cerin, enabled Gonzalez to break a tie with perennial riding champion Rafael Bejarano and Alonso Quinonez and secure the top  spot in the jockey standings after  the first week of the meeting.

The 32-year-old native of Venezuela, who made his Del Mar debut at the summer meeting and finished fifth in the rider standings, has five wins.