Concave Captures Sorrento Stakes
Reddam Racing’s Concave, a daughter of onetime stakes star Colonel John, asserted herself in the final sixteenth under jockey Mario Gutierrez to win Wednesday’s featured $150,000 Sorrento Stakes for two-year-old fillies.
Concave, a winner over the Betfair Hollywood Park grass course in her only previous race, was able to down a stubborn foe, She’s a Tiger, by a half-length in the 6 1/2 furlong sprint.
Stop Smiling, the even-money favorite in a field of seven fillies, was third, 4 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up, with E Equalsmcsquared fourth.
Concave, trained by Doug O’Neill, raced the distance in 1:17.45 to earn first money of $90,000 in the steppingstone to the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, August 31. She returned $8.60, $4.60 and $3 as second choice in the wagering.
She’s a Tiger, who was two-for-two in her career after winning the Landaluce Stakes, competed valiantly under jockey Frank Alvarado and paid $5 and $2.80 to her backers. Stop Smiling paid $2.20 to show.
Wednesday’s Pick Six featured $1,486,696 in “new” money pursuing a carryover of $265,129 from last Sunday, thus producing a total Pick Six pool of $1,751,825. There were 47 perfect tickets and each was worth $22,363.40.
O’Neill, four-time training champion at Del Mar whose barn was off to a slow start this summer, enjoyed his best afternoon of the meeting as Concave completed a training triple for his stable. His other winners Wednesday were Et Tu Walker, under Gutierrez, in the first and the talented Irish-bred juvenile filly Clenor (Rafael Bejarano) in the fourth.
Wednesday’s attendance was 12,376.