Mobilized Makes Dirt Debut Saturday
California-bred Mobilized has run well in open company, but never on dirt and only three times at six furlongs.
No. 4 comes Saturday in the $125,000 Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint, when the 8-year-old Soul of the Matter horse makes his dirt debut.
“He’s doing really well,” trainer Gary Mandella said of Mobilized, who was sixth in the Grade III Native Diver at nine furlongs on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track last Dec. 14.
“My plan wasn’t to run him until the Sensational Star (at about 6 ½ furlongs on turf Feb. 22) because he’s run down the hill, and he’s never run on dirt in his life. But when I moved over here from Hollywood, he’s been training really well, so I figured I might as well take a shot and see what happens . . . six furlongs is not his ideal distance.”
There is a kinship storyline here, since Soul of the Matter was trained by Gary’s father, Hall of Fame conditioner Richard Mandella. “Mobilized is nothing like Soul of the Matter,” Gary said. “They couldn’t be more different, although Mobilized is a good horse. I’m really proud that he’s made 32 starts. Today, very few horses have that kind of longevity.
“He’s been with me since he was a 2-year-old, so he’s kind of my The Tin Man,” Gary said in a reference to the venerable multiple Grade I stakes winner trained by his father, who saddled The Tin Man to win the Grade I Shoemaker Mile in 2007 as a 9-year-old.
“As a 2-year-old, in his second race, Mobilized fractured his right hind ankle. We put one screw in it and it set so well, we left it. He still has it to this day and he’s perfectly sound with it.”
Owned by the Double JH Stable of Janice and Jerry Hawthorne of Newport Beach and the Estate of Robert Reseigne, Mobilized has a 6-1-9 record with earnings of $428,090.
Papa Mandella, meanwhile, remembers Soul of the Matter well. Owned and bred by songwriting icon Burt Bacharach, Soul of the Matter lost the 1996 Dubai World Cup by a half-length to the mighty Cigar.
Later that year, Mandella gained a sense of revenge when his Dare and Go ended Cigar’s 16-race winning streak in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
The field for the Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint: Follini, Joe Talamo, 12-1; Ourwestcoastghost, Abel Cedillo, 20-1; Luckarack, Martin Pedroza, 6-1; Coach Bob, Kent Desormeaux, 20-1; Mobilized, Corey Nakatani, 8-1; Cyclometer, Mike Smith, 2-1; Kate’s Event, Victor Espinoza, 6-1; Spirit Rules, Iggy Puglisi, 6-1; and Big Macher, Rafael Bejarano, 6-1.
Lakerville was scratched.