Breeders’ Cup Friday: Berrios wins 2 of 4 undercard stakes

Jockey Héctor Berrios won two of the four undercard stakes Friday and continued a red-letter day with his a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies with Super Corredora on Friday at Del Mar.

Conducted takes TAA going gate to wire

Berrios took the lead and never looked back with Conducted, winning the fourth running of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar by 1 1/2 lengths.

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Conducted was off as the 8-5 second choice in a field of eight 2-year-old colts. With Proton (6-1) and John Velázquez settling behind the leader, it was just a chase to the finish line as Conducted kicked clear on the turn for home. After setting fractions of 23.69, 48.77, 1:13.15 and 1:24.79, reaching the finish line in 1:36.53. Post-time favorite Plutarch 4-5 for Bob Baffert overcame some bumping from fourth-place finisher Dr. Agne past the eighth pole to beat that rival by a head.

"He broke sharply today, just like he did last time, and he relaxed well on the lead. I thought he would improve off his win at Santa Anita and he really did." Said Berrios. "I wasn't worried about the closers because he was so comfortable on the lead. We didn't really feel Proton (runner-up) trying to catch us. He just kicked on when I asked him to."

Running fifth after a troubled trip in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf (G3), Conducted came back with an impressive 6 1/4-length score earlier this month at Santa Anita for trainer O. J. Jauregui.

"I let Héctor (Berrios) do whatever he wants to do," Jauregui said. "If there were a lot of horses going for the lead, he was going to let the other ones go and if nobody goes, he goes. It looked like everybody was walking there and he went on with it. The horse is getting better. (Early on) He wasn’t focused yet," said Jauregui. "We wanted to run him in a maiden, but he couldn’t get in, so I ended up going in the stake (Del Mar Juvenile Turf) and it turned out to be a race he learned a lot from."

Owned by Danny Eplin, Julia Iavarone, Michael and Arthur Spencer, the Mendelssohn colt improved his record to 4: 2-0-0 with earnings of $159,600.

Conducted returned $5.40, $3.40 and $2.20, Second place Proton for trainer Graham Motion paid $6.00, and $3.00. Plutarch paid $2.20 to show.

Mohaven carries Berrios to 2nd stakes win

Favorite Mohaven (9-5) pulled away in the stretch to give Berrios an early stakes double in the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies at seven furlongs on the main track.

After an early bid for the lead from Cashed (7-1) and Tyler Gaffalione, Mohaven tracked the pacesetter to the outside and launched a big bid down the lane, while slightly drifting into the leader down the stretch, straightened up to kick away clear by 4 1/4 lengths. Cashed held on to second by half a length over another filly from the John Sadler Barn, Liberation (4-1) with Juan Hernandez up.

"This filly really impressed me today. She moved well at the three-eighths pole and she responded when I asked her to go after the leader (Cashed) at the top of the stretch. She did shift in a bit when she switched leads, but I didn't think there was enough contact with Cashed for the results to be changed," Berrios said.

Mohaven trained by John Sadler has raced exclusively at Del Mar and was her first time going longer than 5 1/2 furlongs. In her lone stakes try, the Generous Portion stakes in September, the Yaupon filly was the runner-up by 3 1/4 lengths.

"She came in a little bit, the other one came out a little bit." Sadler said. "They touched but then she straightened right up and won easily so it looked like a good call to me. This is the best draw she’s gotten. I know she was on the rail the last race down here (at Del Mar). She ran three good races here, two seconds and a win. Now we had a little time to freshen her and get ready for this one."

Owned by Legacy Ranch, Mohaven is now 4: 2-2-0 and has improved her earnings to $182,750.

Queen Maxima bounces back in Maddy

Queen Maxima is back to her winning ways in taking the $200,000 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes by one length for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, sprinting at five furlongs on the turf.

Settling mid-pack early about four lengths of the lead Queen Maxima (7-5) and Juan Hernandez had to briefly check behind Great Venezuela at the three-eighths. She recovered her stride and traveled three wide as the Wesley Ward trained Shoot It True (8-5) took the lead from fading pace setter Jungle Peace down the lane, but Queen Maxima outkicked the new leader to win by one length. Ridden By Luan Machado, Shoot It True was a clear second by three quarters of a length over Nay V Belle who found racing room passing the eighth pole.

"I could see she was full of run behind horses. All she needed was somewhere to go and when Juan angled her out, I could see she had a big head of steam coming. I was pretty sure she was going to get there." Mullins said.

After a couple of disappointing sixth place finishes this summer in the seaside oval, both in the Osunitas Stakes one mile on turf in July and the Green Flash Handicap (G3) at five furlongs in August, trainer Jeff Mullins gave his star filly a much-needed break to return to her winning ways. The Unbridled Sydney at Churchill Downs in May was the last of a five-race winning streak going back to December.

"She's back again and this was a beautiful race to get her confidence back and see where she goes from here," Hernández said.

Queen Maxima is owned by Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures. She has improved her record to 12: 7-2-0 and increased her earnings to $570,460.

Queen Maxima returned $4.80, $2.80, and $2.10. Shoot it True for the place paid $3.20, and $2.40. Umberto Rispoli and Nay V Belle, trained by Mark Glatt returned $2.60 to show.

The race is named for late California state senator Ken Maddy.

Ocean Bear wins Golden State Juvenile

Favorite Ocean Bear maintained his winning ways, rolling to a 3/4 length victory in the $175,000 Golden State Juvenile Stakes for 2-year-olds going seven furlongs on the Del Mar dirt.

Settling in fourth on the rail in the back stretch behind pace setter Sammy Davis (4-1) and Berrios, Ocean Bear saved ground to the inside of the leader who had a half-length advantage with a furlong left to run. With Umberto Rispoli swinging out at the top of the stretch, Ocean Bear responded and started to cut into the margin and overtook the leader by three quarters of a length. Trained by John Sadler, third place finisher Can’t Help Myself (10-1) was unhurried early and kicked on down the lane to just miss stablemate Sammy Davis by a half-length.

"I give the credit to George (Papaprodromou). He's done a great job with this horse. We felt from the beginning, that he was a good horse with potential and he's improved race by race," Rispoli said. "He was so calm and relaxed today, he was in a perfect spot all the way, and he did what he needed to do to beat Sammy Davis."

In his debut August at Del Mar, Ocean Bear was second by 2 1/2 lengths to stablemate Can’t Help Myself. Since that race Ocean Bear has been perfect in the next three starts. The Bolt d’ Oro ridgling is a homebred for Richard Barton Enterprises and has an overall record of 4: 3-1-0 with $200,350 in earnings.

"He’s a nice 2-year-old. He’s improving with every race." Papaprodromou said.

Ocean Bear trained by Papaprodromou paid $6.60, $4.20 and $2.80, Sammy Davis returned $5.20 and $4.00. Ridden by Joel Rosario, Can’t Help Myself paid $4.80 to show.