A 26-hour journey leads Hall, Summerland to Del Mar
Trainer Phil Hall loaded his undefeated 2-year-old filly Summerland onto a van at Hastings Park in Vancouver, Canada, early in the morning a week ago Thursday and drove to a farm near Sacramento, arriving that night.
To avoid the heat, he repeated the procedure the following evening and drove through the night, arriving at Del Mar the following morning.
Shades of trainer Chip Wooley hauling Mine That Bird from New Mexico to Churchill Downs to pull off a 50-1 upset victory in the 2009 Kentucky Derby. Except that, unlike Wooley, Hall isn’t on crutches with a broken leg and he writes the journey off as rather routine.
“Driving time? Like 26 hours,” Hall said. “Went kind of near the Redding fire, there for a bit, but other than that...”
It will all be worth it if Summerland, a Kentucky-bred daughter of He’s Tops, performs well in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Sorrento Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for juvenile fillies that is a stepping stone to the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, September 1.
Summerland is 2-for-2 while taking on males in both starts at Hastings Park in a career begun in April and continued in May. The maiden win was by 9 ¼ lengths at 3 ½ furlongs in track record time. Stepped up to a stakes in the $50,000 Spaghetti Mouse (named for a local favorite runner), where the winning margin was 7 ½ lengths over six furlongs in 1:10.82.
“There was an allowance race up there for her Monday, but I didn’t know if it was going to go. I didn’t know if there would be enough entered against her,” Hall said. “I had two fillies for that race, so I figured this (the Sorrento) would be a good test for her.”
It will be the first starter in California for Hall, even though his family holds a special place in California racing history. Phil’s father, Robert W. Hall, was co-owner and an early trainer of George Royal, a horse enshrined in the Canadian Hall of Fame and remembered in Southern California for carrying legendary jockey John Longden to victory in the 1966 San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita. The win was in the race promoted as “Longden’s Last Ride,” and it provided the man known as “The Pumper,” with a career-ending victory No. 6,032.
Four years later, on Labor Day 1970, Bill Shoemaker guided Dares J to victory No. 6,033 here at Del Mar, surpassing Longden for the all-time wins record.
The George Royal events occurred before Phil Hall was born.
“My dad tells the stories pretty good,” Hall said. “For Longden’s Last Ride there were around 80,000 people at Santa Anita and he won by a nose. Pretty exciting.”
Summerland is part of a field of 10 entered Thursday morning for the Sorrento, which goes as the eighth on a 10-race card.
The field from the rail: Madison’s Quarters (Mike Smith), Dragic (Rafael Bejarano), Bellafina (Flavien Prat), Lady Lucy (Martin Garcia), Dichotomy (Mario Gutierrez), Summerland (Tyler Baze), Stirred (Drayden Van Dyke), Reflect (Kent Desormeaux), Boujie Girl (Geovanni Franco) and Del Mar May (Corey Nakatani).