It’s a replay for winners as Del Mar enjoys a safe opening day

There are the racing faithful at Del Mar who are hoping for a safer summer season in 2017 for horses and jockeys compared to a year ago.

There are a handful of owners and trainers who would very much like the competitive side of this meeting to look as if they DVR’d last year and are just watching replays.

In that sense, they all could find encouraging omens in the results of Wednesday’s 78th opening day.

Trainer Phil D’Amato was last year’s top trainer here with 23 victories, and he opened this summer by winning the first big race, the Oceanside Stakes, with Bowies Hero.

Jockeys Rafael Bejarano and Flavien Prat tied in the 2016 jockey standings here with 38 wins apiece. On Wednesday, Prat captured three of the first four races on the card, and then Bejarano stormed back with four wins in the next six.

And maybe most heartening to everyone with any interest in Del Mar was this number: zero.

On a new track that was designed with a safety-first mentality, none of the 90 horses who ran in 10 races suffered obvious injuries. Last year, 17 horses died in the summer meet, including the loss of a 3-year-old maiden filly that put a damper on opening day.

“Very kind” is how Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith described the new surface after riding in two races.

“It’s slow,” he added, “and tough to come running [from behind], but we’ll get there. I would rather have it this way because it’s safe.”

Del Mar may still have some convincing to do. The on-track attendance was 34,128, marking the smallest opening day crowd since 2001 and ending a 12-year streak of at least 40,000 in attendance. The last time Del Mar began on a Wednesday, in 2013, the crowd was 43,030.

The hangover from last year’s deaths? The competition from the opening of Comic-Con? The weather was too good?

Del Mar CEO and President Joe Harper shrugged off the decline.

“I never pay much attention to an opening day crowd,” he said. “It’s not a sign of anything. Maybe Comic-Con this year. Or there are three concerts in town. Or they couldn’t find the right hat. We’ll go through the first weekend and see where we’re at.”

The opener went perfectly well for D’Amato, who had 13 previous stakes victories at Del Mar, but never the Oceanside, a mile turf race.

Bowies Hero scored his first stakes victory in his second career start last September at Del Mar. After a win in three starts at Santa Anita, Bowies Hero was shipped to New York and ran a competitive fourth to Oscar Performance in the Grade III Pennine Ridge in June.

The ownership, Agave Racing, considered a run at the Belmont Derby (also won by Oscar Performance), but opted to bring Bowies Hero back to Del Mar.

“That shipping back and forth for a 3-year-old like this, sometimes it will take a lot out of him,” D’Amato said. “We’ve got a long campaign ahead and a lot of good 3-year-old races to the end of the year. We want a fresh horse. We don’t mind campaigning him at home.”

D’Amato said he will point Bowies Hero toward the Del Mar Derby on Sept. 3, with a possible run earlier in the La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 6.

Bowies Hero jockey Tiago Pereira had to navigate some heavy traffic to get his horse into position for a powerful finish. They were seventh at the top of the stretch, but charged on the outside and chased down runner-up Pioneer Lad to beat him by 1½ lengths.

“Tiago said he was just loaded,” D’Amato said. “He said he had a ton left on the gallop out.”

Bowies Hero completed the mile in 1:36.01 and returned $8.80 as the second wagering choice. Favored Arms Runner finished seventh.

Pereira, a 40-year-old Brazilian, earned his fourth stakes victory at Del Mar. He has been good to the Agave barn, winning on eight of his 25 mounts this year.

The day opened with back-to-back wins by trainer Vladimir Cerin. Our Nation, at 3-1 odds with Prat aboard, won the first, followed by Geologist winning at 11-1 with Israel Ocampo riding.

Prat got his second victory aboard Cheekaboomboom (3-1) in the third, and scored again with Classy Tune (1-1) in the fourth.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert got his first win of the meet in the fifth race with Bejarano guiding Just A Smidge (2-1), and had a special treat when former San Diego State basketball coach Steve Fisher joined him in the winner’s circle.

Bejarano won the sixth on 11-1 Shehastheritestuff, seventh aboard Gato Del Oro (3-1) and 10th on Shackleford Banks (9-2).

tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @sdutleonard