Del Mar Derby Winners Ready to Move Along

Having the Del Mar Derby split into two divisions for the first time in 43 years turned out to be fortuitous for trainer John Sadler and the owners – including Del Mar’s Jenny Craig – of Ethnic Dance.

Even though Ethnic Dance had shown an affinity for turf since being switched in late May, Sadler had some initial reservations about the half brother to Twirling Candy stepping up to a Grade II stakes off two lower level wins.

“The horse came out and trained really well in the middle of the meet, but if the race hadn’t split, we might not have had enough earnings to have been able to get in it,” Sadler said. “But when it was split, I called up and said we would go.”

Ethnic Dance took the field wire-to-wire under Edwin Maldonado and survived a stewards’ inquiry for the victory, worth $150,000. It capped a day for Craig which included selling and signing 80 copies of her book “I Believe In Genevieve,” in a one hour period before racing began.

Sadler reported that Ethnic Dance came out of the race fine and Jeff Mullins said the same for Gabriel Charles, winner of the first division of the Derby. Both are headed for Santa Anita where decisions on future starts will be made.

Sise Headed For Training Job In Saudi Arabia

Longtime Southern California trainer Cliff Sise will depart Tuesday evening for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and his new position as trainer for Prince Faisal.

Sise, who had been the racing manager for the nearby but imminently closing Rancho Paseana training facility for the past two years, was recommended for the position by a friend and said he has signed a one-year contract.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be doing the same thing I have been doing over here, training horses,” Sise, who had been a paddock supervisor at Del Mar for the first six weeks of the meeting, said Monday by phone. “Prince Faisal just bought 32 2-year-olds and he has about 40 older horses. The ones that are good enough go to Dubai to race.”

Sise said his only previous Middle East experience was taking Idiot Proof to Dubai for a second-place finish in the Golden Shaheen sprint on Dubai World Cup Day in 2007. Sise conditioned horses for San Diego’s premier trio of owners, Pam and Marty Wygod, Golden Eagle Farm and Sid and Jenny Craig, among others through the 1990s and into the mid-2000s.

Sise-trained Paying Dues was second in the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Idiot Proof matched the result in the same race in 2007.