Del Mar: Call Sign Seven and Just Aloof score in undercard stakes

Call Sign Seven scored a 60-1 upset in the Grade 2, $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap on Saturday at Del Mar, rallying from far back to win by a half-length in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes.

Ridden by Ricardo Gonzalez, Call Sign Seven sat second-to-last along the rail through the early stages before finding a seam entering the stretch. The 4-year-old Speightstown colt burst through in hand and drew clear to record his first stakes victory.

"I was running with a lot of horses," Gonzalez said. "I was following Antonio Fresu (aboard Astronomer) and when I saw he opened up a little bit I shot right through it."

El Potente, the 9-5 favorite ridden by Hector Berrios, set the pace through fractions of 23.27 and 47.11 seconds before tiring to third. Astronomer, under Fresu at 10-1, tracked the pace in third position up the backstretch, waited for room at the top of the stretch and finished second by a head over El Potente. Cabo Spirit pressed the pace in second early.

Call Sign Seven entered off a seventh-place finish in an $80,000 optional claimer on March 2 at Santa Anita going a mile on turf. Trainer Michael McCarthy gave the colt a seven-month freshening before the Seabiscuit.

"Coming off of an extended layoff I thought he'd be fresh to go ahead and bounce on out of there," McCarthy said. "I preferred to be closer than farther away from the pace. It always looked like he was traveling comfortably. Around the middle of the turn it looked like he was getting shuffled back but crossing the chute, he able to find some room. I'm certainly glad he did. I wasn't real happy sitting behind a wall of horses but all credit to the horse and rider."

Owned by Savio-Cannon Thoroughbreds, Call Sign Seven improved his record to 6: 3-0-0 with $190,500 in earnings. Final time for the race was 1:41.71, with the half-mile in 47.11 and three-quarters in 1:11.15 seconds.

Call Sign Seven returned $139, $37.60 and $11.60 to his backers. Astronomer, trained by Simon Callaghan, paid $11.20 and $6. El Potente returned $3.20 to show.

The longshot victory triggered an Early Pick 5 carryover of $329,973 into closing day of the Del Mar fall meet on Sunday. Mandatory payouts will take place in all wagering pools, with the Early Pick 5 pool expected to exceed $2 million.

Just Aloof scores in Jimmy Durante

Just Aloof, the tepid 3-1 favorite in a field of 11 2-year-old fillies, tracked close up throughout under Hector Berrios, then accelerated strongly turning for home to pull away to a 2 1/2-length victory in the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3) at Del Mar on Saturday.

The Justify filly made her second career start following a maiden victory at Aqueduct on Oct. 16. Trainer Chad Brown won his third Jimmy Durante and his 20th stakes at the Del Mar fall meet with the foresight to ship the bay west.

Just Aloof covered the mile on turf in 1:36.78 and returned $8 to win.

Latte Luv finished second, a half-length ahead of La Ville Lumiere in third.

Just Aloof earned $60,000 from the $103,000 purse, pushing her career earnings to $106,750.