Del Mar Friday: Sadler steps Cali Cat up for opening-day feature
The $100,000 Oceanside Stakes has been the traditional opening day feature at Del Mar since 1977. It is back again Friday with a solid 10-horse field. Some notable horses have used the race as a stepping stone to bigger and better things including Hawkster in 1989, Ladies Din in 1998, Twirling Candy in 2010 and Conclude in 2023.
Last year Formidable Man took the Oceanside. He went on to win the Del Mar Derby and then the Hollywood Derby in the fall.
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Trainer John Sadler has won the Oceanside Stakes five times. He will bring Cali Cat to the race this year. The California-bred son of American Pharoah has been runner-up in his last two races, the $100,000 John Shear turf sprint and the $125,000 Snow Chief, both at Santa Anita.
“He’s been running well,” Sadler says. “Last time might have been just a little far at a mile and an eighth but I think a mile is a pretty good distance for him. We know he likes this course. He broke his maiden here last summer. He’s sharp and we’ve been kind of pointing for it.”
Cali Cat drew the inside post in the one-mile turf event restricted to 3-year-olds. He will face Iron Man Cal from the Philip D’Amato barn. The son of Collected was runner-up to Henri Matisse in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last November at Del Mar. After a brief time off he made his 3-year old debut on Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs and ran sixth in the American Turf (G1).
“He’s doing really good,” D’Amato notes. “He ran a credible race in the Breeders’ Cup and I think he needed a race off the bench at Churchill. Granted it was a really accomplished group of horses there. So, second off the bench on a turf course we know he likes, I think he’s poised to run a big race.”
D’Amato will also saddle Lyle the Crocodile, an Ireland-bred who ran fourth in his U.S. debut at Santa Anita in June. He was beaten that day in the entry-level allowance race by two other horses running in the Oceanside. Day and Age won the race and Game Warrior was third.
Game Warrior is one of two horses for trainer Peter Miller, who also has entered Kale’s Angel, a colt who won stakes races at Turfway and Oaklawn Parks this winter.
“He doesn’t have any conditions after he won those three stakes,” Miller says. “There are no races for 3-year-olds sprinting out here so we’re giving him a shot going long again.”
The last time Kale’s Angel went two turns he finished a credible third in the $250,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn in January. That was on the dirt. He did break his maiden sprinting on the turf at Del Mar last summer.
The Oceanside will be the eighth race, which is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT. The opener Friday has the traditional post time of 5 p.m. EDT.