Del Mar roundup: Gold Phoenix 4-peat could highlight undercard

There are so many factors that go into having a horse win a particular race three years in a row. There’s keeping the horse in top form over a long period of time. There’s having that horse primed and ready for the race every year, and then there’s actually going out and winning the race.

That’s why Gold Phoenix winning the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap last year for the third year in a row was such a remarkable feat, not only for the horse but for the trainer who conditions him and the team of people who handle him every day. 

“The good thing about Little Red Feather is they always do right by their horses,” trainer Phil D’Amato said, “and they let me manage them the proper way. That’s why we have a chance at winning four Del Mar Handicaps.”

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Gold Phoenix, a now 7-year-old son of Irish stallion Belardo, will be back again this year, trying to make it an unprecedented four in a row in the handicap, run as part of the Pacific Classic undercard Saturday at Del Mar. It’s at a marathon distance of 1 3/8 miles on turf.

“It would be tremendous,” D’Amato said about winning the Del Mar Handicap for a fourth time. “Just for the horse alone, the prestige behind it all, that would be awesome. It takes a total team. His exercise rider has been with him since day one. Same with his groom and everyone else.”

Gold Phoenix comes into the race off of a third-place finish to Final Boss in a salty allowance race three weeks ago. It was designed as a prep and D’Amato could not have been more pleased, short of winning the race.

“Going a mile I think it was a good prep,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “Now we’re going to get the distance I think he prefers.”

Flavien Prat, who will be in for the big weekend at Del Mar, will ride Gold Phoenix in the handicap.

Final Boss is back to see whether he can upset the three-time winner again.

“He showed more versatility,” trainer John Sadler said. “That was the first time he laid off of the pace. Juan (Hernandez) said he didn’t need the pace. But he’s a horse who’s doing very well here. I think he’s a contender.”

Final Boss has run four times in 2025 and won two of them. 

Trainer Leonard Powell will start Nitti in the Del Mar Handicap. The Irish-bred won the San Juan Capistrano  (G3) last out at Santa Anita, a race that is run at 1 3/4 miles. 

Stay Hot is out of the Peter Eurton barn. He won last year’s La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar and ran second to Formidable Man in theMathis Mile (G2) at Santa Anita at the end of last year. He has run only twice this year, winning the Texas Turf Classic at Lone Star Park and then finishing third in the Eddie Read (G2) at Del Mar.

Atitlan could be a serious threat to spoil Gold Phoenix’s party. The son of The Factor won back-to-back graded stakes earlier this year. He captured the 1 1/2-mile San Luis Rey (G3) at Santa Anita in March and then the Charles Whittingham (G2) in May. 

Finally, Truly Quality, last year’s Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) winner, will try to get his conditioner Jonathan Thomas back in the winner’s circle. He has run only once this year, a sixth-place finish in the San Marcos (G3) in February at Santa Anita.

The Del Mar Handicap is a win-and-you’re-in for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. It goes off as the 11th and final race on the Pacific Classic Day card, with a post time of 9:43 p.m. EDT.

Tenma, Howin, Om N Joy clash in Torrey Pines

The Torrey Pines (G3), part of the Pacific Classic undercard on Saturday at Del Mar, will feature the return of Tenma against a flashy Cal-bred testing open company for the first time.

Tenma is arguably the best 3-year-old filly on the West Coast. She won five of her first six races, breaking her maiden at Del Mar last year and following up with a squeaker of a win in the Del Mar Debutante (G1) nearly three weeks later. 

The daughter of Nyquist then threw in a clunker in the Oak Leaf (G2) at Santa Anita, which cost her a run in the Breeders’ Cup. Instead, she returned in the Starlet (G2) at Los Alamitos and won handily. 

Tenma opened her 3-year-old campaign with a six-and-a-half-length win in the Las Virgenes (G3) which sent her off as the odds-on favorite in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) where she proved to be the best. That led to her lone trip out of California and a run in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs. She forced the pace only to fade to fourth.

“Probably should have run her in the Eight Belles; it would have been a better spot,” Baffert notes. “She came out of it a little bit light. I was going to try her on the turf but when I breezed her I wasn’t really pleased.”

Tenma’s been off since the Oaks on May 3, getting a well-deserved break.  

“She’s still maturing and needs to fill out a little bit more,” Baffert contends. “In her training she’s been very aggressive so I’ve been trying to get her to slow down a bit. She needs a race and I have nowhere to run her. I didn’t want to ship her.” 

Tenma is the even-money favorite in the Torrey Pines and her stablemate Howin is 9/5 on the morning line. 

“They’re owned by the same people (Baoma Corp),” trainer Bob Baffert says, “and I don’t like the idea that they drew next to each other.”

Howin has been working with Desert Gate and Buetane in the mornings, two of Baffert’s top 2-year olds. The daughter of Gun Runner ran second to another stablemate, Cash Call, in the G3 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita in June. 

“I think Howin has improved since then,” Baffert notes. “She’s doing very well,” 

Last out she won an entry-level allowance race at Del Mar.

The Torrey Pines also marks the return of Om N Joy, an impressive winner of the $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar last month. It was her fourth straight win and smart enough to give her conditioner, Aggie Ordonez, the confidence to step her up into open company and a graded stake.

“She full of energy,” Ordonez states. “She seems to be just getting better. She’s beginning to look like an older horse. She’s filling out and her last work was sensational.”

The daughter of Om worked five furlongs in 59.0 seconds on Aug. 17. She came back with a four-furlong maintenance work on Sunday in 50.0 seconds. 

Om N Joy broke her maiden in March at Santa Anita and hasn’t lost since. She won the $125,000 Evening Jewel in April, the $125,000 Melair in May and then the Fleet Treat. All were restricted to Cal-breds. 

“I know it’s a big leap,” Ordonez adds. “That’s some serious competition. It almost seems like a different sport that those guys are playing, that are spending that kind of money on horses. But I know physically she’s not going to present like a Cal-bred, but like a good looking, nice horse. Nobody’s told her she’s a Cal-bred.”

And a good Cal-bred can hold their own. Remember Best Pal or California Chrome or The Chosen Vron. They all stepped out of Cal-bred company and captured graded stakes. 

Seven 3-year-old fillies will go to the gate in the Torrey Pines on Saturday. It is the sixth race on the 11-race program and probable post is 7:06 p.m. EDT.

Motorious chases repeat in Green Flash

Eleven of the quickest horses on the grounds will vie for a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this fall at Del Mar when they lock horns in the Green Flash (G3) on Saturday, part of the undercard for the Pacific Classic. The five furlong dash on the grass is as contentious as ever, leading one trainer to speculate that the Green Flash will not be a Grade 3 for long.

Motorious is back for another try, hoping to go back-to-back-to-back in the same race, much like his stablemate Gold Phoenix did in the Del Mar Handicap (G2) last year. The England-bred is coming off a sparkling 2025 debut in the Daytona (G3) in June at Santa Anita.

“He was just doing so good I needed to run him,” trainer Phil D’Amato says. “With his late kick he just opened up on the field. That’s hard to do, opening up and winning by daylight.”

Motorious won the 2023 Green Flash and then finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint behind Nobals. He returned last year and won the Green Flash again, but this time missed by just a neck to Starlust in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar last fall. 

Queen Maxima shortens back up to sprinting which she was so successful with earlier this year. Trainer Jeff Mullins tried her at a mile last time out and she finished sixth. She was riding a five-race win streak going into the Osunitas.

“She’s not a miler,” Mullins admits. “I wish I hadn’t run her in the mile now. Sometimes the mile dulls their speed.”

Still, Mullins is pleased with how she’s working up to the race. The daughter of Bucchero will be going against the boys in the Green Flash but it’s not by design. 

“Nowhere else to run her,” Mullins noted. He’s not happy being hung outside in the 11-hole though she does have Motorious just to her inside.

First Peace will be making his first start of 2025. Last year’s $100,000 Wickerr Stakes winner at Del Mar hasn’t raced since he won the Eddie D (G2) at Santa Anita in September.

“He just needed some time off,” trainer Mark Glatt explains. “I don’t think he’s a great five-furlong horse but he’s ready to run. It looks like they’re going to smoke up front early on in the race so perhaps it will set up for a horse that comes from a bit off the pace, which he’ll mostly likely be doing.”

A trio of shippers add some spice to the dash. No Nay Hudson comes into town for trainer Wesley Ward for a second straight year. He ran in last year’s Green Flash and just missed winning it.

“We thought he should have won the race,” assistant trainer Blake Heap recalls. “He got to the front and kind of gave up once he had no target in front of him. They nailed him late at the wire.”

Heap believes coming to Del Mar earlier than they did last year will only help No Nay Hudson.

“Last year he came in the day before the race,” Heap explains. “So he didn’t have time to see the track. So this time he’s been here a little while. He’s worked here and he’s settled in good.”

Coppola is another shipper who could have an impact on the Green Flash. He arrives from the Midwest where he resides in the Dale Romans barn. After splashing around in the deep end with some of the best sprinters in the country earlier this year, Romans gave the son of Into Mischief a class break and he responded, winning the $100,000 William Garrett at Horseshoe Indianapolis before running second in the $250,000 Turf Sprint Preview at Ellis Park.

“It’s five furlongs which we know he likes,” Romans says about why he shipped into Del Mar for Saturday’s race. “He likes the firm ground which we expect to get and a Breeders’ Cup run if he takes us there. It’s a competitive field, a big field. But he’s fast and he’s run with these types before.”

Reef Runner also ships in for the Green Flash. He’s been running in Florida. He was brought out West for the surface.

“He kind of likes a pool table,” trainer David Fawkes contends. “He doesn’t want that long grass. He runs good at Gulfstream, which is a similar surface. There are three ‘Win and You’re In’s’ coming up. Kentucky Downs has one but if it rains we’re finished. There’s one at Saratoga where I’ve been there and done that. So we wanted to try this.”

The Green Flash is named after an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs at sunset off the California coast. It’s the ninth race on Saturday’s 11-race card. Probable post is 8:39 p.m. EDT.