San Clemente Stakes : Jockey McCarron Guides Mint Leaf to a 2 1/2-Length Victory at Del Mar

Chris McCarron knew he had a lot of horse left as 10 3-year-old fillies turned for home in Saturday’s 16th running of the San Clemente Stakes at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

The only problem was his horse, Mint Leaf, had nowhere to run. Blocked by several horses including the front-runner, Stakes To Win, McCarron knew it was a . . . well, let McCarron explain.

“I wasn’t getting impatient, it was just getting late,” he said.

Whatever the case, Mint Leaf and McCarron finally found room at the top of the stretch and exploded down the lane to win the $50,000-added race in Stakes record time of 1 minute, 42 3/5 seconds.

Queen of Bronze, ridden by Patrick Valenzuela, followed Mint Leaf home, 2 1/2 lengths behind. Stakes To Win, with Martin Pedroza aboard, held on for third.

“I had wanted to get to the outside all along,” McCarron said. “We were sitting behind a wall of horses looking for a place to run and we finally found some room.”

Mint Leaf, who had won the Swingtime Stakes at Hollywood Park in her last outing July 17, returned $14.00, $6.40, $5.40. Queen Of Bronze returned $8.40 and $7.40 and Stakes To Win paid $7.60. Princess Cariole, the pre-race favorite, ran a badly beaten eighth.

Meanwhile, McCarron’s victory aboard Mint Leaf was his fourth of the day and moved him into second place in the jockey standing with 23 winners. It was also his second straight San Clemente Stakes triumph as he scored aboard Fashionably Late a year ago.

“I can attribute my success to the fact that I had four very fast horses today,” said McCarron who has been Del Mar’s leading rider four of the last five years. “I’m not as concerned with winning the riding championship as I have in the past. I just want to win consistently.”

Consistency has been what Mint Leaf’s trainer Thomas Walker has been looking for, for some time.

“We’d been waiting for a year, ever since she came to the races, to run her on the turf and now that we’ve got her there, she just goes,” Walker said of his first Del Mar stakes winner.

“She’s just a little bitty thing, so I don’t do a whole lot with her in the mornings. I just lead her over here in the afternoon at let her run.”

Del Mar Notes Jockey Bill Shoemaker, who injured his back in a spill here July 26, worked aboard Lord At War Saturday morning and may be back in action this week. Earlier, it was believed that Shoemaker would miss the rest of this meeting because of the injury. “The back is perfect,” said Harry Silbert, Shoemaker’s agent. “I’m looking to put him on horses here Wednesday.” Shoemaker is being considered to ride Dahar or The Noble Player in Sunday’s Budweiser Million at Arlington Park in Chicago. . . . Rafael Meza will ride Eddie Read Handicap winner Tsunami Slew in the Million, it was announced Saturday. . . . Despite Chris McCarron’s success Saturday, Laffit Pincay Jr., who rode Spend A Buck to victory Saturday in the Monmouth Handicap in New Jersey, still leads the Del Mar meeting with 26 victories.