Frankel Goes Coast to Coast

Trainer Bobby Frankel was already having a good day before Intercontinental was loaded into the gate Saturday for the $200,000 Palomar Handicap at Del Mar.

About half an hour before, Frankel’s Mass Media, a 15-1 shot, won the $250,000 Forego Stakes at Saratoga, ending a seven-race skid.

Then Intercontinental, a strong-willed 5-year-old mare who rarely runs a bad race in spite of herself, went to the lead and added the finishing touch to a convincing win in the Palomar.

“I would have just been happy winning the Forego,” said the New York-based Frankel, who has been only a passer-by in recent years, while his longtime assistant, Humberto Ascanio, has been running the stable’s division here.

Ridden by Jerry Bailey, who also came from Saratoga to make one of his few California appearances, Intercontinental has 11 wins, three seconds, fourth thirds and earnings of $1.2 million in 20 starts.

“If she was an easier horse to ride, she’d probably be [undefeated],” Frankel said, after Intercontinental set a stakes record of 1:39 4/5 in the 1 1/16-mile race.

Amorama, undefeated in two stakes starts here, finished second, 1 1/4 lengths behind Intercontinental, and Ticker Tape was third. Intercontinental ran third, battling jockey Alex Solis all the way, when Amorama won the John Mabee Handicap on July 23.

“I can understand what Alex went through that day,” said Bailey, who won the Pacific Classic here with Pleasantly Perfect last year. “[Intercontinental] is like a runaway car with no steering wheel.”

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Follow The Rainbow, winner of Saturday’s $100,000 El Cajon, gave trainer Bob Baffert his 74th stakes win at Del Mar, tying him with the late Charlie Whittingham for the top spot on the track’s list. Baffert’s Chips Are Down, ridden by Bailey, finished second.

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Victor Espinoza, who rode Follow The Rainbow, said that he would donate all of his earnings from today’s card to the Hurricane Katrina Red Cross Relief Fund.

Jockeys usually receive 10% of a horse’s purse from races they win, plus lesser amounts for mounts who finish second through fifth. Espinoza has seven mounts, including Siren Lure in the $350,000 Del Mar Handicap. Despite Garrett Gomez’s three wins Saturday, Espinoza still holds a 48-47 edge in their battle for the riding title. The meet ends Wednesday.

Many of the Del Mar jockeys sat in a dunk tank during Saturday’s card, inviting fans paying $10 to hit a target with a ball and submerge them. The proceeds, which will also go to the Red Cross, will be matched by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Jon Court, participating between races, was dunked three times early in the day.

The dunk tank, which was the idea of jockey Louis Jauregui, continues today and Monday.

Vincent Timphony, who trained Wild Again, winner of the first Breeders’ Cup Classic, at Hollywood Park in 1984, said that he lost his restaurant and home in New Orleans as the result of Katrina. Timphony, who is at Del Mar, said that his two brothers and a sister also lost their homes.

“They tried to drive out of New Orleans, but in Mississippi there was virtually no gas and they were stranded,” Timphony said. “Somehow, a priest was able to get them gas, and they continued. But they were left with nothing behind.”

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Javier Castellano, who rode Mass Media, clicked with four other mounts at Saratoga.... Indy Groove, owned by Leonard Lavin, trained by Tom Proctor and ridden by Mark Guidry, won the $150,000 Arlington Matron Handicap in suburban Chicago.... Castledale, winner of the Santa Anita Derby as a 30-1 shot in 2004 and first in the Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park this year, has been retired. The horse suffered from chronic ankle problems and finished fourth in the Eddie Read Handicap in his last start. Fourteenth in the Kentucky Derby, Castledale won five of 17 starts and earned $864,423.