Gryder, Proctor Get First Del Mar Stakes Wins

The fact that neither jockey Aaron Gryder nor trainer Harry Proctor had won a stakes race at Del Mar didn’t seem to bother a crowd of 14,705 that sent Executive Row off as the 4-5 favorite in the $60,000 Junior Miss Stakes Wednesday.

And Wednesday was the day for Gryder, Proctor and Executive Row, who pulled away to a 4 1/2-length victory, her second in three starts as a 2-year-old.

“This one finally got me home,” said Proctor, 35, who has been training horses for nearly 10 years but has had only two run here in stakes.

Sales Bulletin ran second in both the 1983 Coronado and the 1985 Rancho Bernardo. Proctor’s other stakes horse, Earn Your Stripes, finished second in the 1985 El Cajon.

“Now I’ve finally got a stakes winner here,” Proctor said. “It had been a long wait.”

For Gryder, 18, the wait hadn’t been nearly as long, but it was beginning to seem that way.

As Del Mar’s top apprentice last summer, Gryder won 18 races and finished in a tie for fifth in the jockey standings. Through this summer’s first two weeks, he had won only three races. He had never won a stakes here.

“My horse just ran good,” Gryder said. “(Proctor) told me to try laying right behind the speed horses and come around them. She’s a very smart filly.”

Gryder meant that when Executive Row sees an opening, she goes for it. That’s what happened around the far turn Wednesday.

Rugosa Rose and Duchess Greg were 1-2 into the turn and Executive Row third, a length back. But when the front-runners moved away from the rail turning for home, Executive Row shot through. The rest was easy.

Executive Row cruised down the stretch and finished the six furlongs in 1 minute 10 4/5 seconds. She paid $3.80 to win, $2.40 to place, and $2.10 to show. Duchess Greg hung on for second ($3 and $2.40). Grace In Motion ran third and paid $2.80.

“I thought we were going to be OK, but in the last part, my horse got to shortening stride,” said Eddie Delahoussaye, who rode Duchess Greg. “We were just second-best.”

In the recent past, that has been worth something after the Junior Miss.

Lost Kitty, second to Sheesham last year, went on to win the Del Mar Debutante, the Del Mar Futurity and horse of the meeting honors.

Brave Raj, second to Footy in 1986, also won the Debutante and, later that year, the Breeder’s Cup race for juvenile fillies.