Weekend Racing at Del Mar : Field Is Split in Osunitas Handicap
New York tracks have had difficulty drawing large fields for their big races this summer.
Today at Saratoga is no different, with only three horses--Gulch, King’s Swan and the favored filly, Personal Ensign--entered in the $250,000 Whitney Handicap.
The stakes races at Del Mar may not be as rich and snooty, but at least they’ve been drawing large fields here, the kind that make it worth a bettor’s trip to the windows.
In the first seven stakes of the season at Del Mar, 65 horses have run, and in the only major race of the meeting so far, the Eddie Read Handicap last Sunday, there was a 12-horse field. A week ago, 13 horses ran in another stake.
The pattern continues this weekend. So many horsemen wanted to contest today’s Osunitas Handicap that it had to be split into divisions of eight female grass runners apiece. The Osunitas is hardly an important stake and its $60,000 purse is small by current standards, but now each division will be worth $60,000, as the race is split for the fourth time in the last five years.
Sunday, eight 3-year-olds are entered in the $100,000 La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the grass. Trainers apparently elected to rest horses during the recently completed season at Hollywood Park, which had trouble mounting sizable fields for several of its stakes.
Co-highweights in the La Jolla are White Mischief, who ran last in the Swaps at Hollywood, and Western Gun, who is making his U.S. debut. The latter was fifth and second in two races in England this year after winning three times there as a 2-year-old.
Neil Drysdale, now the trainer of Western Gun, is shooting for his second straight Sunday grass stakes victory at Del Mar, having won the Eddie Read with Deputy Governor. Drysdale will be running both Deputy Governor and Political Ambition in the Arlington Million at Woodbine Aug. 20.
Eddie Delahoussaye, who has been riding both horses, said Friday that he would stick with Deputy Governor in the Million. That left the the mount on Political Ambition open for Gary Stevens, who will be riding him for the first time.
Here’s the lineup for the La Jolla, in post-position order with jockeys and weights:
Roberto’s Dancer, Fernando Toro, 115 pounds; Iz a Saros, Aaron Gryder, 117; Bel Air Dancer, Russell Baze, 117; White Mischief, Chris McCarron, 118; Blade of the Ball, Corey Black, 115; Western Gun, Delahoussaye, 118; Prove Splendid, Alex Solis, 115, and Perfecting, Stevens, 116.
Both White Mischief and Roberto’s Dancer are sons of Roberto, the 1972 Epsom Derby winner who died of an apparent heart attack at 19 this week at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Ky.
Descendants of Roberto are appearing all over the racing map this weekend. Sweet Roberta, a granddaughter, is running in the first half of the Osunitas. In the Jim Dandy at Saratoga Sunday, there are a grandson--Evening Kris--and two sons--Brian’s Time and Dynaformer--entered.
Rain is in the forecast for Saratoga Sunday, and should it arrive at the Upstate New York track a day early, the Whitney would turn into even more of an exclusive affair. Shug McGaughey, the trainer of Personal Ensign, says he won’t run the undefeated filly if there’s mud.
Horse Racing Notes
Santa Anita was unable to take bets on Del Mar’s races Friday because a construction accident in downtown Los Angeles knocked out the track’s computers at 11 a.m., an hour before the gates opened. Many of Santa Anita’s patrons went to Fairplex Park in Pomona, which was not affected by the accident. Santa Anita anticipates being back in business today. . . . Other California-based horses who will run in the Arlington Million are Great Communicator, with Ray Sibille on board, and Roi Normand, with Fernando Toro riding.
Chris McCarron will replace injured Laffit Pincay on favored Forty Niner in the $1-million Travers at Saratoga Aug. 20. Pincay, who suffered a punctured lung and seven broken ribs in a spill at Del Mar last Monday, hopes to return to action next month. McCarron will become the fourth jockey to ride Forty Niner in his last four races, after Pat Day, Julie Krone and Pincay. Day will be riding Seeking the Gold in the Travers.
Alex Solis will be at Monmouth Park today, riding Distinctive Sis in the $200,000 Sorority. . . . Barry Irwin and partners have sold Aloha Prospector, a stakes winner on both coasts, to a New Zealand breeding farm. . . . Goodbye Halo will be shipped from California to Saratoga early next week to run in the $200,000 Alabama a week from today. . . . Apprentice James Corral, who has been sitting out a five-day suspension from the stewards for interference with a horse in a race at Los Alamitos, returns to action at Del Mar Monday.
One of the reasons trainer Wayne Lukas keeps saying that his 2-year-old colts will be better than his young fillies this year is a colt named Houston, who cost Bob French $2.9 million and won his debut at Belmont Park by 12 lengths. Houston is regally bred, the result of a mating between Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown champion and horse of the year, and Smart Angle, the champion 2-year-old filly in 1979.