Discreet Marq Has French Connection in Del Mar Oaks

Discreet Marq was bred in New York and none of her nine career starts have been west of Maryland. But the 3-year-old daughter of Discreet Cat will bring an international flavor to Saturday’s $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Oaks, if only in the accents of her handlers.

“The French connection,” Christophe Lorieul, assistant trainer to Paris-born Christophe Clement, said Thursday morning. Lorieul, who had just finished exercising the gray/roan filly was referring to the fact that he’ll be giving a leg up in the saddle to Chantilly, France native Julien Leparoux in the fourth of seven Grade I stakes during the meeting.

“Julien has been doing great; I saw where he won two (Wednesday). He’s in good form, so that’s always a plus.”

Discreet Marq has four wins and has only been off the board once in nine starts for owner Patricia Generazio. She is 2-for-2 since being transferred to the care of Clement last winter, the wins coming in the Grade II Sands Point Stakes in May and the overnight Eventail in July at Belmont Park.

There were several factors, Lorieul pointed out, in the decision to come west.

 “Considering the options we have later in the season (in New York or the Midwest) we thought this would be a good place to run,” Lorieul said. “ In (the East) there are always Europeans shipping in and here we are sure of having firm ground, which is not always the case at Belmont or Keeneland.”

Discreet Marq has never raced at 1 1/8 miles, the Oaks distance and shows, on paper, a front-running style.

“I don’t think the distance will be a problem,” Lorieul said. “Everybody thinks that she has to be on the lead to win and she doesn’t. We have worked her from behind horses and she can rate, that’s not a problem. She won’t be too far off, but she doesn’t have to be on the lead to win. That’s what we think anyway.”

Being In Stakes Limbo Didn’t Give Callaghan The Blues …

When Ighraa drew the No. 11 post, and therefore became the lone also eligible for Saturday’s Del Mar Oaks, it put trainer Simon Callaghan in what some would consider an uncomfortable situation.

The 3-year-old Irish-bred filly is officially trained by Francis-Henri Graffard but will be saddled by Callaghan and remain in his stable for a fall U.S. campaign. Ighraa, owned by Simon Hope, shipped in from France within the past month with the hope of participating in the Grade I $300,000 Oaks.

But her Oaks draw left Callaghan to wait for the 10 a.m. decision deadline Thursday morning to see if one of two fillies – Charlie Em and Sarach -- that were, like Ighraa, entered in both Friday’s $90,000 Sandy Blue Handicap and the Oaks, opted for the Sandy Blue and created a starting spot in the Oaks.

“If something works out, we’ll go for the Oaks, but if not that (Sandy Blue) will be a good spot for her,” Callaghan said Thursday morning. “Obviously (the connections) sent her all this way for the Grade I and she deserves it. But there are lots of options down the line and she’s definitely a stakes-caliber filly.”

Ighraa was winless in eight starts as a 2-year-old and in her initial 2013 assignment in January at Deauville. Given nearly two months off, she notched two straight wins, the second in the $71,500 Prix Finlande and was competitive in three successive Group stakes tries.

“She looks good since she has come in,” Callaghan said, “she’s eating well and she has good energy. She’s a small filly but she’s an attractive filly and whichever way we go will be fine.”

...And Neither Did The Final Outcome Of Sandy Blue/Oaks Shuffle

Sarach, trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, remained in Friday’s Sandy Blue, allowing Callaghan to scratch from that race and run in the Oaks. Charlie Em, one of two entrants for trainer Paddy Gallagher in the Sandy Blue, also scratched in favor of the Oaks.

The field for the Sandy Blue thus becomes, from the rail out: Oscar Party (Mike Smith, 7-2), Travesura (Joe Talamo, 12-1), Macha (Rafael Bejarano, 8-1), Redressthebalance (Mario Gutierrez, 12-1), Miss Lucky Sevens (Garrett Gomez, 20-1), Sarach (3-1), Miss Empire (20-1), Pontchatrain (Julien Leparoux, 9-2) Caraquista (Alonso Quinonez, 20-1), Bares Tripper (Kevin Krigger, 15-1).