JC / Railbird

Del Mar Archive

Slo-Mo Classic Upset

Longshot Student Council ran the biggest race of his 20-race career in the Pacific Classic, winning the 1 1/4 mile $1 million stakes by half a length over Awesome Gem. Hello Sunday was third. Final time for the race, run for the first time over Polytrack, was 2:07.29 — Lava Man won last year’s edition, run over dirt, in 2:01.62. What a difference a surface makes. This year, Lava Man finished sixth as the even money favorite. “He tried hard,” said jockey Corey Nakatani of Lava Man’s effort. “But he was struggling a bit out there. He wasn’t really getting the track” (Blood-Horse).

Posted in Del Mar on August 19, 2007

Del Mar Carryover Today

Thanks to no winning favorites Wednesday or Thursday and a 37-1 shot upsetting yesterday’s nightcap, there’s a big two-day pick six carryover of $632,816 at Del Mar today. Racing starts at 4:00 p.m. PT, giving players a few extra hours to handicap what is an uninspiring card. I sort of like Topper’s Moment, 5-1 morning line, over likely favorite Forest Miss in the opening leg, but the horse has no works over the Polytrack, which has proven a knock in the past couple of weeks. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the carryover will roll into Saturday, which features the G1 Mabee on the turf. Last year’s winner Dancing Edie will try to repeat by running on the lead (DRF), but she’ll have to contend with Price Tag, who ran second to Citronnade in the Gamely.

Posted in Del Mar on August 3, 2007

Wednesday Evening Notes

– Week two at Saratoga got off to a better start than week one, although favorite Rumspringa was declared a non-starter after unseating rider Ramon Dominguez at the break in the first race. Dominguez was uninjured and all wagers refunded on Rumspringa, who was claimed by owner Michael Repole and trainer Bruce Levine. Winning Move Stable owner Steve Sigler is contesting the claim of the horse from his barn, since Rumspringa lost the jock and was ineligible to run for purse money (DRF).
– Trainer Todd Pletcher went 0-for-4 at the Spa today, but both his regular riders scored a stakes win this afternoon: In the Fleet Indian Stakes, Garrett Gomez piloted second favorite Lauren’s Tizzy to a 3 1/2 length win for trainer Mark Henning, while John Velasquez captured the De La Rose Stakes for Kiaran McLaughlin aboard Fantastic Shirl, who lagged far behind the rest of the field for the first five furlongs and then was blocked by traffic, forcing her to split horses in the stretch. She won by one length.
– Del Mar Polytrack trends: Some wild prices and form reversals out west recently, yet favorites have won 32% of Polytrack races since the beginning of the meet and half of the winners finished in the money in their last start, so it’s not total chaos. A few sires have now had multiple offspring win on the surface: In Excess is 3-for-16 (18%); Forest Camp 2-for-3 (67%); Old Topper 2-for-10 (20%); and Tribal Rule 2-for-7 (29%). California stud stalwarts Unusual Heat and Swiss Yodeler have two wins out of 20+ starters each. Interesting: Jockey Corey Nakatani and trainer Rafael Becerra are 4-for-4 with a $2 ROI of $7.75 on both Polytrack and turf.
– This must have been a scene: Owner Ahmed Zayat and Del Mar CEO Joe Harper “got into an animated, and at times profane, discussion” about Polytrack (DRF), which has drawn some complaints for the way it changes consistency throughout the day. Zayat’s horses and trainer Bob Baffert are headed to Saratoga (Union Tribune), which should be more to the speed-loving owner’s liking.
– Preakness winner Curlin arrived at Monmouth this morning for Saturday’s Haskell, where he’ll meet up with a freshed Hard Spun and hometown longshot Cable Boy (Star-Ledger).
– After weeks of advertising imminent revolution, Blood-Horse launched Blood-Horse NOW today. The site is available to subscribers of the print magazine (I assume there’ll be an online-only subscription in the near future). It looks great, very contemporary, with a spare, open aesthetic, and I appreciate being able to sort race results by class. But some features seem incomplete — there’s no way drill down by track into the leader lists, the only entries up are for graded stakes, and so on — and I hit a few missing pages and errors. Also, no sign of “unique and provocative statistics.” It’s all new, though, and very promising.

Posted in Del Mar, Saratoga on August 1, 2007

Carryover Alert

Thanks to a parade of longshots, there’s a one-day pick six carryover of $212,258 at Del Mar today; at the Spa, a one-day pick six carryover of $92,503.

Posted in Del Mar, Saratoga on July 30, 2007