Del Mar news: Preparations get serious for Futurity, Debutante
With the two remaining Grade 1 events of the meeting approaching – the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on August 31 and $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on September 2 – final works and decisions for prospects are in the offing.
Saturday morning, trainers Doug O’Neill and Peter Eurton sent 2-year-old fillies Comical and Powerfulattraction through their final major exercises for the Debutante.
Comical, with Flavien Prat aboard, officially went five furlongs in 1:00.80, which was a tick faster than O’Neill had for her.
“I had her galloping out in 1:14 and thought it went really well,” O’Neill said.
With regular jockey Joe Talamo on assignment at Saratoga, Eurton said he “called in a favor” and had Martin Garcia work Powerfulattraction. Del Mar clockers had her covering a half-mile in :49.40.
Trainer John Sadler said Inspiressa, who worked three furlongs in :35.00 on Tuesday, is scheduled for a final, five-furlong work for the Debutante on Monday with assistant trainer Juan Leyva to ride.
Trainer Simon Callaghan said that Schrodinger will miss the Futurity due to a development unrelated to the recent viral problems and the filly Shedaresthedevil is more likely for the $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf on September 2 than the Debutante. The same could also be said for O’Neill’s Lazy Daisy, who worked five furlongs Saturday morning in 1:00.80.
Trainer Richard Baltas said that recent winner Ginobili would be galloped up to the Futurity and was “80-20” likely to go in that race.
ESPINOZA, SADLER NEAR MILESTONES
The victory with Lady Suebee in Friday’s Tranquility Lake Stakes was stakes win No. 99 at Del Mar for Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza and No. 7 this season for trainer John Sadler.
His second stakes victory of the meeting moved Espinoza to within one of tying fellow Hall of Famer Gary Stevens for third on the track’s all-time list behind Chris McCarron (134) and Corey Nakatani (108).
No. 99 didn’t involve a lot of strategy for the 47-year-old Espinoza. He took the 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of First Defence straight to a clear lead, stretched it to six lengths in the stretch and cruised home in front by 5 ½.
Espinoza’s first stakes victory at Del Mar came in a division of the Oceanside on opening day of the 2000 meeting aboard Stormy Jack. Espinoza recorded at least two a year from 2000-2017 then had the streak end with the serious injury early in last year’s meeting that sidelined him for seven months.
The seventh stakes win of the meeting for Sadler was No. 74 in his career of more than three decades at Del Mar. It tied Sadler with legendary trainer Charlie Whittingham for No. 3 on the stakes-wins list behind Bob Baffert (128) and Ron McAnally (77).
CLOSERS: Selected works from 129 officially timed Saturday morning: Anonymity (3f, :35.20), Cistron (4f, :49.40), Ollie’s Candy (4f, :50.20), Powerfulattracton (4f, :49.40), Tribalist (4f, :48.40), Acai (5f, 1:03.00), Ahimsa (5f, 1:00.40), Comical (5f, 1:00.80), Lazy Daisy (5f, 1:00.80), Nolde (1:00.40).