Del Mar news: Capacity field signs on for Sunday's Matriarch
A capacity field of 14 was entered Thursday for the Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch, the signature event of fall racing at Del Mar on closing Sunday.
Nine of the 14 will have shipped in from outside California and represent venerable trainers from the Midwest, East Coast and Internationally such as George Weaver, Ignacio Correas IV, Jean-Claude Rouget, Chad Brown and Mark Casse.
The five California-based horses taking on the invaders are headed by Vasilika, a Jerry Hollendorfer-trained former $40,000 claimer who comes in on an eight-race winning streak. The sixth win in the string was recorded in the Grade 2, $200,000 John C. Mabee Stakes here on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
The post position draw was scheduled Thursday afternoon. The entrants, in alphabetical order with jockeys in parentheses are: Daddy Is a Legend (Manny Franco), Dona Bruja (Declan Cannon), Fahan Mura (Edwin Maldonado), Insta Erma (Drayden Van Dyke), Luminoso (Heriberto Figueroa), Mission Impassible (Florent Geroux), Mopotism (Geovanni Franco), Ms Bad Behavior (Tyler Baze), Quidura (Jose Ortiz), Rymska (Irad Ortiz, Jr.), Uni (Joel Rosario), Valadorna (Mike Smith) and Vasilika (Flavien Prat).
RAIN, AND THE THREAT THEREOF, FORCES FOUR RACES OFF THE TURF
A quarter-inch of rain drenched the track early Thursday morning and with forecasts for even stronger storms to hit 90 minutes to an hour before first post, track officials decided to close the main surface to training and move four races on the eight-race card from the turf to the main track.
“We just want to get ahead of this,” Racing Secretary David Jerkens said.
The last time Del Mar had to deal with weather conditions was Saturday, July 18, 2015, the third day of the summer meeting.
A severe lightning and thunder weather pattern that hit the track at 6:30 a.m. and came back with heavy rain in time for the 2 p.m. first post caught horsemen and track officials by surprise.
“When I got in here it was total chaos,” track superintendent Richard Tedesco said then. “Lightning, thunder and rain pouring down. We had to shut down the main track because of lightning in the area. That’s a rule. And we shut down the training track as well.
“We missed about 45 minutes of training. But when they got back out on it the jockeys going past were all giving me a thumbs up. The track held up well . I’m proud of my crew for the job they did.”
When rains persisted, growing heavier as race time neared, the track was sealed and a decision was made to take three of the four scheduled grass races – the Grade I Eddie Read being the exception – off the turf and onto the main track.
The main track was listed as “sloppy” on Saturday, July 18, and “good” on Sunday, July 19.
CLOSERS – Selected workouts the past three days at Santa Anita and Del Mar: Monday – Calexman (SA, 4f, :48.20), Fahan Mura (SA, 5f, 1:03.40), Marley’s Freedom (SA, 5f, 1:03.40), Solomini (SA, 5f, :59.80), Zatter (SA, 5f, :59.60); Tuesday – Kanthaka (SA, 5f, 1:01.40), Chasing Yesterday (SA, 6f, 1:13.80), Mother Mother (SA, 6f, 1:14.20), Improbable (SA, 7f, 1:27.00); Risky Proposition (DM, 4f, :49.40), Wednesday – Roadster (SA, 3f, :36.00), Vexatious (SA, 3f, :38.00), McKinzie (SA, 4f, :49.00), Minoso (SA, 4f, :47.40), Owning (SA, 4f, :49.00), Hunt (SA Dirt training, 4f, :50.20), Belvoir Bay (DM, 3f, :37.40), Roy H (DM, 3f, :36.00), Stormy Liberal (3f, :37.20), Conquest Tsunami (4f, :50.00).