Istanford Will Run in Sandy Blue
San Clemente Handicap winner Istanford, entered in both Friday’s $90,000 Sandy Blue Stakes and Saturday’s Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Oaks, appears headed for the Sandy Blue, where she is the 2-1 opening line favorite.
Rules would allow Istanford to be scratched no later than one hour prior to post time for a stakes race.
“We’re going in the mile (Sandy Blue),” Chris Davis, assistant to trainer Mike Stidham, said late Thursday morning. The decision was made after consultation between Stidham and the Istanford ownership group headed by Alley Thrash.
Irish-bred Maibaby, imported from France to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale, was also entered in the Sandy Blue and Oaks but the daughter of Hurricane Run owned by David Heerensperger was scratched Thursday from the Sandy Blue.
A winner of two of six starts in France, Maibaby has been at Del Mar for around two weeks and has worked twice on the Polytrack surface. Restrictions regarding use of the turf course, lifted last weekend, prevented works there.
“We weren’t allowed to work her on the grass, so we have no idea what’s going to happen,” Drysdale said.
The field for the Sandy Blue, from the rail out: Amnesia (Fernando Perez, 10-1), Sheza Smoke Show (Joe Talamo, 8-1), Kool Kat (Martin Garcia, 8-1), Miss Machiavelli (Kent Desormeaux, 12-1), Time and Tides (Victor Espinoza, 15-1), Tiz Kissable (Tyler Baze, 20-1), Mon Petite (Carson Sullivan, 30-1), Istanford (Rafael Bejarano, 2-1), Maibaby (Elvis Trujillo, 10-1), Soresca (TBD, 15-1) and Wonderfully (Mike Smith, 5-2).