Field of 11 ready for Saturday's Del Mar Debutante
The final weekend of the 2015 Del Mar summer meeting is upon us and that means the 65th Running of the Grade I Del Mar Debutante. The $300,000 event for two-year old fillies run at seven furlongs over the main track drew an extremely strong group of “young ladies” and gets closing weekend “Where the Turf Meets the Surf” started with a “bang.” Headlined by Sorrento Stakes winner Pretty N Cool for Bob Baffert and dominating maiden winner Songbird for Jerry Hollendorfer, the ninth race on Saturday’s 11-race card offers not only a full field, but one with potential future stars as well.
Pretty N Cool was made the 2-1 favorite by morning line odds maker Russell Hudak off a dominating victory on August 12th in the Grade II Sorrento over the Del Mar surface. The daughter of Scat Daddy is now 2 for 2 in her career and has proven the ability to not only win on the lead, but relax off a brisk early pace if need be. The $160,000 Keeneland September 2014 purchase appears to be coming into Saturday’s feature well, having worked three times since her last race, including five-furlongs in 1:00.2 on Monday morning. A third solid effort is expected from the Baffert filly that has a big shot to make it three in a row.
The return of Songbird has been greatly anticipated since her poetic maiden-breaking performance on July 26. Breaking from the rail, this Fox Hill Farms owned filly broke well and cantered to an easy six and a half length score against a field of 9 as the 2-1 second choice. This $400,000 daughter of Medaglia d’Oro drew well to the outside for her second start, which should give Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith plenty of options when they break from the gate on Saturday. Much like Pretty N Cool, Songbird appears to be coming into the race well based on her workout pattern. She has worked six-furlongs on both August 19th and August 25th over the Del Mar main track and it appears that Jerry Hollendorfer has her ready for another big effort. She has one of the nicer strides I have seen from a filly of her age, but she will be tested big time this weekend.
Hollendorfer has had another brilliant summer in San Diego and he not only brings Songbird to the Del Mar Debutante, but two other logical contenders as well. Stays In Vegas dominated two non-graded stakes events up North at the fair circuit this summer and hopes to translate that form to Southern California. After a six-length victory in the Juan Gonzalez Memorial Stakes at Oak Tree at Pleasanton to break her maiden, the daughter of City Zip followed it up with a three and three-quarter length score in the Wine Country Debutante Stakes at Santa Rosa on August 14th. She will get a “class check” on Saturday afternoon and will need a much sharper break from the gate than her first two starts if she hopes to compete with the best fillies on the West Coast. Surfside Tiara is Hollendorfer’s third entrant for the Debutante. This Scat Daddy filly failed in her debut as the even-money choice on Independence Day at Los Alamitos, but was extremely impressive in her maiden victory last month. Leading rider Rafael Bejarano returns to ride this $120,000 OBS March 2015 purchase that may get overlooked at the pari-mutuel windows despite her 7-2 morning line, but leave out Bejarano and the “Dorf” at your own risk.
Three of the fillies that Pretty N Cool defeated in the Sorrento last month seek revenge on Saturday. Runner-up Gomo for Doug O'Neill and Reddam Racing finished second and hope to improve off that effort. After a perfect trip at nearly 20-1 that day, she draws outside and gets a new rider in veteran Alex Solis. She will really need to step her game up to beat the top few in here, but it is hard to count out O’Neill and Reddam in two-year old races after an incredible run this spring and summer. One True Kiss ran a solid third in the Sorrento for Peter Miller, but her lack of early speed may present this Warrior’s Reward filly with too much to do when they turn for home. Regardless, she makes a solid option to use underneath in the exotics at what should be a “square” price. Right There finished off the board that day and despite a strong rally to win the Landaluce at Santa Anita in June appears to be a bit too slow for this group. She would need a pace collapse to hit the wire first in this one. Gomo and One True Kiss are listed as 15-1 on the morning line, while Right There is at 20-1.
Come to Mischief is the “wild-card” for the 2015 Del Mar Debutante. This daughter of Into Mischief sold for just $11,000 at the Keeenland 2014 September sale, but started her racing career off with a front-running stakes win at nearly 19-1 in the $125,000 My Dear Stakes at Woodbine. Off the powerful first effort, the Kentucky-bred was privately purchased by Ron Paolucci’s Looch Racing Stables and placed in the hands of trainer Peter Walder. While this race was not the immediate plan for her, it was decided that the dirt at Del Mar might be closer to the synthetic surface she raced on in her debut than the East Coast tracks. She likely is a cut below the top few in here, but certainly brings additional intrigue into the already solid field. Hall of Famer Gary Stevens takes the mount.
Reddam Racing and Doug O’Neill also send out the daughter of Bellamy Road, Land Over Sea. This $130,000 OBS April 2015 purchase has strong bloodlines being a half to solid turf runner Draw Two, as well as 2015 Kentucky Derby runner War Story and has run two solid races to start her career. However, she beat a suspect group of fillies over the grass on July 29 and will need to improve quite a bit on speed figures to be in the mix on Saturday. Regular rider Mario Guiterrez opts to stay aboard this filly instead of stable mate Gomo. Mitzi Winks and My Dynamo close out this stellar group of two-year old fillies.
The Del Mar Debutante is scheduled to go to the post at 6:10 PM local time and is amongst several stakes races on the Labor Day slate as the Del Mar Thorougbred Club closes out another summer.