Heywoods Beach surges to beat Tizamagician in Cougar II

Rider Ramon Vazquez sat second to odd-on race favorite Tizamagician in the Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes Sunday at Del Mar, then surged late and held off his classy rival for a one-length tally with Heywoods Beach.

The 5-year-old horse – ironically by sprint champion Speighstown – ran the mile and one half in 2:30.09. He is trained by veteran John Sadler, who won the 1 1/2-mile Cougar II for the fourth time. It was also Sadler’s 83 stakes win at Del Mar, second-most among all trainers.

Finishing second in the marathon was Tizamagician, who is owned by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm. Running third, a neck farther back, was Jay Em Ess Stable’s Extra Hope.

Heywoods Beach, owned by Hronis Racing, picked up a check for $75,000 for his work, increasing his lifetime bankroll to $289,251. He’s won four of 18 outings and ran third in this same race last year, when Tizamagician was the winner.

Heywoods Beach paid $8.20, $3.40 and $2.60 across the board. Tizamagician, who went off at 9-10, paid $2.80 and $2.20 and Extra Hope returned $3.00.

Vazquez, who has taken up residence at Del Mar for the first time this summer, has one other stakes win at seaside track. That came last Nov. 6 on the Breeders’ Cup undercard when he steered the classy router Lone Rock to a victory in the TAA Stakes marathon, besting Tizamagician in the process.

After the Cougar II, long shot Irideo pulled off a $65 surprise in the Wickerr Stakes at a mile on the turf course. The homebred Argentinian horse races in the green, blue and yellow silks of Pozo de Luna. He was ridden by Hector Berrios, who last won a stakes at Del Mar in 2011 and is trained by Marcelo Polanco, whose most recent stakes victory locally was in 2009.

Del Mar goes dark until Thursday, when racing resumes with a 5 p.m. EDT post.