Del Mar: Clock Tower sets slow pace en route to DeMille win

Clock Tower, who had the good luck to have Hall of Famer John Velázquez in the saddle as they walked the dog through the early part of the one-mile Grade 3, $101,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, scored a 2 1/2-length victory in the turf test for 2-year-olds on Sunday at Del Mar.

The gelding owned by Fitri Hay and sired by Not This Time got away with a 25.13-second quarter-mile and was full of energy when the real running began. He drew away from his six rivals and scored his first stakes triumph in five career starts under the guidance of trainer Wesley Ward.

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“Beautiful, perfect trip. Kind of what we were hoping,” Ward’s assistant Blake Heap said. “There was really no speed on paper, anyway. When I saw the fractions, he almost went 49 (seconds) for the half, and he’s been running 47 and still hanging pretty hard. He’d been training here so good, I really liked him.”

The final time for the race was 1:36.78 after early fractions of 23.62, 48.75 and 1:13.72.

“I rode this horse for his first two starts back east, and you can see what a good job Wesley has done with him,” Velázquez said. “He’s grown up. He’s matured. Today when I got away with that second quarter, I knew they were going to have a tough time catching us. Then when I asked him, he went. He’s turning into a good one.”

About Velázquez’s winning tactics, Heap said, “He’s a good speed rider. He knows the pace.”

The DeMille rewarded the winner with a purse of $60,000, which increased Clock Tower’s earnings to $225,938.

Scipio finished second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place Origami.