DEL MAR : Ocean Crest Wins Evenly Matched Del Mar Derby

The conventional thinking was that a stampede known as the Del Mar Derby could be won by anyone. That thinking proved correct.

Ocean Crest, a provisional entry who went off at 11-1, led from wire to wire over an evenly matched field.

The winner’s game plan for the $300,000 race for 3-year-olds over 1 1/8 miles on the turf was to lay off the lead and see what developed. That was the way trainer Frank Brothers designed it, but that was not the way jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. saw it unfolding. Ocean Crest wanted the lead, Pincay gave it to him and they never gave it up.

Ocean Crest was a horse without a stakes victory running against veterans of graded-stakes victories such as Numerous, Unfinished Symph, Powis Castle, Bluegrass Prince, You and I and Eagle Eyed. He was invited only because another invitee refused.

Bettors seemed confused about this array of stars, betting 8-1 Numerous down to 4-1, dragging 12-1 You and I down to 7-2 and sending Marvin’s Faith, upset winner of the La Jolla Handicap, off as a longshot once again at 20-1. Ocean Crest had opened at 6-1.

However, Ocean Crest went to the front with Pollock’s Luck off his right shoulder.

“I was going to lay off about third,” Pincay said, “but he broke sharply and got onto an easy lead. He was still on the lead easy on the second turn. He was on the rail and saving ground and I just decided to stay there.”

The pack was coming, however, bumping and jostling and trying to get at the leader. Some of the bumping caused the favorite, Eagle Eyed, already fractious at the starting gate, to be disqualified and dropped from third to seventh.

Unfinished Symph, a 6-1 choice being ridden by Martin Pedroza because of the broken ribs suffered Saturday by Gary Baze, got up for second place. Powis Castle was moved up from fourth to third when Eagle Eyed was disqualified.

Horse Racing Notes

Exalto, a lightly raced 3-year-old from the barn of Neil Drysdale, rallied under Chris McCarron to win the $60,000 Relaunch, a 1 1/16th-mile race on the turf for 3-year-olds and up. He had never run in a stakes race, going one-two in two maiden races and one-three in two allowance races. Regardless, he went off as the 3-2 favorite and paid $5. The pace in this race was, as expected, set by Makinanhonestbuck and A Treek for Roses, who led the others by eight and nine lengths down the backstretch. The surprise was that Fumo Di Londra, a Del Mar Derby invitee, was not with them. He abandoned his front-running style, jockey Alex Solis taking him back at the start. When McCarron called upon Exalto entering the far turn, Sharp Phase and Patrick Valenzuela came with him but were not as strategically placed. Sharp Phase ended up beaten by 2 3/4 lengths and Fumo Di Londra finished third another 1 1/4 lengths back. The Relaunch--and Exalto--proved that horses stepping up in class are preferable to those stepping down. . . . Mr. and Mrs. Martin J. Wygod’s entry of Profit Margin and Strategic Alliance was too much, in the $55,000 I’m Smokin for Cal-bred 2-year-olds over six furlongs. Profit Margin, ridden by Chris Antley, set the pace from a few yards out of the gate and won by a half-length over his teammate, who took the opposite approach and came stretch-running from last under Valenzuela. Strategic Alliance got up for second in spite of bouncing off the rail during the stretch run. The entry paid $2.80 to win. Profit Margin’s previous victory was in a maiden race on Aug. 13. A day earlier, Strategic Alliance had won a maiden race by 11 lengths, pulling away down the stretch. The duo figured to have the best of it, but did not exactly overwhelm the field. Strategic Alliance was a nose ahead of third-place finisher Bienfeo, well-placed by Solis, and little more than a half-length ahead of Fandarel Dancer, who pressed Profit Margin throughout. . . . Weight assignments for Sunday’s Del Mar Budweiser Breeders’ Cup Handicap are a bit deceiving. Kingdom Found, the San Diego Handicap winner, and Lykatill Hil are listed at the high weight of 118 pounds. However, Brocco, unraced since the Kentucky Derby, is listed at 117. Since 3-year-olds get a five-pound allowance, his weighting is theoretically at 122. D’hallevant, the Pat O’Brien Handicap winner, is also at 117. . . . Journalism, the post time favorite, won the San Francisco Handicap at Bay Meadows in the last race of the National Best Seven.