Delahoussaye Reigns on Del Mar’s Opening Day : Jockey Rides Pair to Oceanside Sweep

The first time Eddie Delahoussaye rode Grey Gauntlet, at Santa Anita on April 4, the 3-year-old colt finished 11th and last.

“It was the first time we tried him on grass and he handled the turf all right,” trainer and part-owner David Bernstein said. “But he jumped over everything on the course.”

Delahoussaye had a post-race idea for Bernstein. “He needs to be cut,” the jockey said.

That was easy for Delahoussaye to say, suggesting that Grey Gauntlet be gelded, but instead Bernstein returned the horse to the dirt. The results were almost as dismal--a fifth-place finish, 14 1/2 lengths behind the winner, at Santa Anita and then another last-place run, this time at Hollywood Park.

Unraced at 2, Grey Gauntlet was now still a maiden in six starts, so Bernstein gelded him. “It wasn’t that he was attracted to fillies, he wasn’t studdy at all,” Bernstein said. “But he would sulk. He had a lot of ability, but he didn’t try. We had to try something. We had tried all kinds of different equipment--blinkers, different bits, a tongue tie--and nothing seemed to work.”

Since becoming a gelding, Grey Gauntlet has strung together four solid races, the latest of which was a come-from-behind victory Wednesday in the first division of the Oceanside Stakes on opening day at Del Mar.

It was appropriate that Delahoussaye was riding him again for the first time since the April 4 debacle, since the jockey had originally made the anatomical suggestion.

Delahoussaye used similar tactics in the second half of the Oceanside before 26,609, Del Mar’s third-largest opening-day crowd, bringing Varick from the rear for a three-quarter length victory and a riding sweep.

Grey Gauntlet, who is also owned by Geatano and Bob Giuliano, who are in the delicatessen business in Los Angeles, won by one and one-half lengths and paid $38.60 to win. Since being gelded, he was third twice at Hollywood and scored his first career victory in his last start, winning by six lengths on June 28.

The last three times he started, Grey Gauntlet ran for claiming prices between $40,000 and $50,000. “We had an offer for him after the first race he ever ran, a fourth at Santa Anita,” Bernstein said, “so I know there was some interest in him. But I didn’t really think I’d lose him (on a claim), because after those several bad starts, other trainers aren’t sure how good of a horse he is.”

Sum Exchange had a six-length lead going down the backstretch in the Oceanside, but he tired in the stretch of the 7 1/2-furlong race and finished fifth. Brecons Charge finished second, three-quarters of length ahead of Justoneoftheboys, who had traffic problems.

Grey Gauntlet was timed in 1:29 3/5, almost two seconds slower than the track record and a fifth of a second slower than Varick’s winning time. Varick’s win was particularly noteworthy because the 3-year-old colt was in trouble most of the way around.

Varick, who is owned by Edward J. Hand, paid $7.40 as the second betting choice behind Well Related, who ran fifth. Lincoln Park, who had the lead at the top of the stretch, nosed out Mr. Director for second.

The win was Varick’s third straight and the third in seven lifetime starts for the son of Mr. Prospector.

The first two wins in the streak were on dirt. “He’s been perfect for me on both the dirt and the grass,” said trainer Eddie Gregson. “He seems to be one of those horses that can do it all.”

Gregson’s plan is to run Varick in the Del Mar Derby, a grass race on Aug. 18. Grey Gauntlet is likely to start in the LaJolla Mile, which is also a turf race, on Aug. 4 before he’s considered for the Del Mar Derby. That scheduling should be fine with Delahoussaye. It will give him another look at the roan gelding in the event he has to choose between the two in the Derby.