Del Mar: Emotional Win for Weemissfrankie
Handicappers gave Wednesday’s fourth race, for maiden fillies, high potential to produce a candidate for the Grade I, $250,000 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, Sept. 3. And it appears to have done so.
“Wrap her up in bubble paper and put her away until the Debutante,” trainer Peter Eurton said of the plan for Weemissfrankie, a Sunriver filly who scored a half-length victory in :58.39 for five furlongs under Rafael Bejarano in her racing debut.
“I was surprised she was as far back as she was early,” Eurton said.
“But as far as making the run she made, that was not totally
unexpected.”
Purchased in April for $175,000 at the Ocala, Fla. Sale, Weemissfrankie is named for Frank Alesia, a noted Hollywood character actor, director of children’s TV shows, horse owner and Carlsbad resident. Alesia died February 27 at the age of 67.
“I’d known him for over 30 years and my stepfather trained for him
before me,” Eurton said. “He was a great man and a great friend and to
win on opening day at Del Mar, with him being from San Diego and his
wife in the winner’s circle. It was pretty emotional.”
FIVE SET FOR C.T.B.A. STAKES
Willa B. Awesome is the 7-5 favorite in a field of five for Friday’s 58th running of the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes for 2-year-old California-bred fillies.
Trained by Walther Solis and to be ridden by Garret Gomez, Willa B.
Awesome won at first asking in April at Hollywood Park and followed that
with a third-place finish in the Cinderella Stakes on June 11.
HOW DO YOU LIKE IT SO FAR?
John Scheinman, former Washington Post turf writer and co-founder of Kentucky Confidential, on his first trip to California, got his initial Del Mar experience at Wednesday’s record-setting opening day.
“I had been told by my good friend Andy Beyer that I was in for an absolutely spectacular experience,” Scheinman said. “Other friends were galled that, coming out here, I would be missing the opening (Friday) of Saratoga.
“It was great. This is kind of like a paradise. I had a blast. I did everything but win. The people are friendly and a little bit nutty. But a lot of fun.”
FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT SERIES OPENS WITH G-LOVE AND CO.
Del Mar’s first late-afternoon race day of the meeting comes up Friday when post time for the day’s first race will be at 4 o’clock. The schedule calls for eight races.
Following the final race of the day, G-Love and Special Sauce will inaugurate the recently-constructed concert venue west of the grandstand where seven Friday and two Saturday events will be staged during the course of the meeting. The new facility can accommodate an estimated, 12,000 fans, a considerable increase from previous years.