Masochistic and Shared Belief Tribute top Week at Del Mar
Masochistic’s win in the Grade II Pat O’Brien and a tribute to the great Shared Belief headlined the penultimate week of the Del Mar 2016 summer meeting.
After a huge Pacific Classic weekend and a big closing week on tap at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, this past racing week was a bit light on star power and stakes racing. Nonetheless there was still quite a bit going on “Where the Turf Meets the Surf.”
The week’s headliner was the Pat O’Brien Stakes run at seven furlongs over the main track. Unfortunately, the field was cut down to three with two Saturday morning scratches. This paved the way to an easy win for heavy favorite Masochistic.
The Sought After gelding got away with easy early fractions of 22.65 and 45.01 en route to a three and three-quarter length score. His connections have their sights set on the Breeders’ Cup sprint after a disappointing try in that event last year.
Vyjack made his first start for the Phil D’Amato barn and ran on decently for second. The six-year-old should move forward quite a bit in his next start after training forwardly for his return to the races.
Saturday also saw two-year-old California-bred fillies battle in the $150,000 Generous Portion Stakes. 1-2-favorite Miss Sunset won her second straight start in convincing fashion and appears to be a very nice sort for trainer Jeff Bonde. The daughter of Into Mischief put away the other early speed and won under a hand ride from jockey Fernando Perez. First-time starter How About Zero ran on for second for trainer Doug O’Neill and should be very tough against maiden company in her next start.
It was a special Friday at Del Mar with the remembering of the great Shared Belief. Del Mar paid tribute to the son of Candy Ride that lost his life due to a colic episode last December. Jim Rome hosted his show live from Del Mar in the morning and was on hand for the running of the $100,000 event for three-year-olds. The highly acclaimed talk show host spoke for a few moments on behalf of Shared Belief’s connections right before post time. Emotions ran high throughout the festivities.
In the Friday feature, John Sadler conditioned Accelerate overcame a quick turnaround from his dominant maiden score and held off Semper Fortis late to win the event that was formerly known as the El Cajon Stakes. Taman Guard set the early pace and finished third.
Sunday’s feature was the Grade III Torrey Pines. Much like the Pat O’Brien, morning scratches including 4-5-morning line favorite Enola Gray marred the one- mile event for three-year-old fillies. The omissions paved the way for a wire-to-wire score for Peter Miller trained Belvoir Bay. The Team Valor International and Gary Barber owned filly took the early lead, turned away the 3-5-favorite Bellamentary and kicked clear late under red-hot jockey Norberto Arroyo, Jr for her fourth win in nine career starts.
The stakes action started early on in the week with two heats of the $75,000 Harry F. Brubaker on Wednesday afternoon. The first heat was won by even money favorite Soi Phet for trainer Leonard Powell. The veteran son of Tizbud stalked outside the leaders and took control in the stretch under jockey Kent Desormeaux.
The second heat of the Brubaker was not as formful with Benchmark gelding Magic Mark taking the eight-horse group from gate-to-wire in his second race off the layoff. It was the sixth win in sixteen starts for the Ron Ellis trainee that now has earned over $325,000 in his career.
The final week of the summer meeting commences on Wednesday and runs through Labor Day. The Del Mar Debutante and Del Mar Futurity will headline what should be a strong end to the 2016 season.