Del Mar: Truly Quality headlines 1 1/2-mile Hollywood Turf Cup

Ten marathon-running racehorses led by Truly Quality will match leg and lung capacity at Del Mar on Friday in the 43rd edition of the Hollywood Turf Cup going 1 1/2 miles.

The demanding test carries a purse of $200,000 and Grade 2 status. The horse who proves best in this longest part of Del Mar’s turf festival will add $120,000 to his bankroll.

Click here for Del Mar entries and results.

Truly Quality appears to have the best chance of arriving first at the wire. The Augustin Stables’ homebred is a 4-year-old gelding by Quality Road who’ll be competing at his seventh different racetrack in his last seven starts. He’ll reunite with rider Vincent Cheminaud for trainer Jonathan Thomas and break from the outside post on the Del Mar backstretch.

Cheminaud and Thomas clicked nicely at Del Mar on Sunday with another Augustin homebred in Mrs. Astor, who took down honors in the Red Carpet (G3) on the lawn. It was the first Del Mar stakes win for both rider and trainer. Now it surely appears they are wanting more.

Truly Quality comes into the route off a pair of stakes wins, the first in September at Colonial Downs in Virginia and the most recent in the Singspiel (G2) at Woodbine. This year the dark bay or brown stretch runner is 7: 3-2-2. His current earnings are $378,995.

The Hollywood Turf Cup will go as the seventh of nine races with a scheduled post time of 6:30 p.m. EST.

A trio of runners appear to be the chief threats to the top one. They are Cabo Spirit, Dicey Mo Chara and Divin Propos.

Cabo Spirit finished far back in his most recent effort, but that was against many of the best turf horses in the world in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Before that he was a game winner of the John Henry Turf Championship (G2) at Santa Anita at 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 28. He’s a winner of $1,035,336.

Dicey Mo Chara’s last outing was in the John Henry, in which he finished fourth, two lengths behind Cabo Spirit. The Great Britain-bred 6-year-old is a four-time winner of $653,777 who ran fourth in this race last year.

Divin Propos is a France-bred who began his U.S. career this summer and has a pair of good allowance wins on the turf to his credit.

First post Friday will be the usual 3:30 p.m. EST.