O'Neill Seeks 2-Year-Old Sweep at Del Mar

Trainer Doug O’Neill, who won the I’m Smokin with Wake Up  Nick and the Oak Tree Juvnile Fillies with She’s Complete on Labor Day, will shoot to win a third straight stakes for 2-year-olds when he saddles Sky Preacher in the $100,000 Oak Tree Juvenile Turf, the sixth on Wednesday’s 10-race program.

Sky Preacher, a son of Sky Mesa owned by Success Racing, has been freshened since a 7 ½-length victory in a one-mile maiden special race at Santa Anita on June 27 in his first start on grass. The Oak Tree Juvenile Turf is also contested at one mile.

“(Sky Preacher) is  doing well. He hasn’t run in awhile but he has been working consistently and we’re expecting a big effort from him,” O’Neill said.

WHAT’S IN A NAME --  Inaugurated two summers ago as a counterpart to the Oak Tree Juvenile Fillies Turf, the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf is open to both female and male two-year-olds at one mile on the Del Mar grass.  It also honors the Oak Tree Racing Association.

JOCKEYS RACE IS FOR SECOND; TRAINERS IS ‘ON’ IN FINAL DAY

With Rafael Bejarano having clinched his third straight title, the final-day intrigue in the jockey standings will revolve around Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux maintaining his one-win lead to claim solo second or being caught or passed by Elvis Trujillo.

Bejarano, who has 42 wins on the season, 11 more than Desormeaux and 12 ahead of Trujillo, has seven mounts on the 10-race card. He prevailed with 52 wins in 2012 and 46 last year.

Desormeaux, in his first season based at Del Mar since 2005, has seven mounts Wednesday, two of them favorites on the morning line. Trujillo, in his first season at Del Mar, has eight mounts, none of which is favored. 

Thirteen of Desormeaux’s victories were on horses trained by Bob Hess, Jr. They will combine on three horses Wednesday.

The trainers race has boiled down to Jerry Hollendorfer and Peter Miller with Hollendorfer going into the final day with a 20-19 advantage. Hollendorfer is seeking his first Del Mar title. Miller won in 2012. Hollendorfer has six entered Wednesday. Miller, with the late scratch of Heir of Storm in the second, has five.

Miller won three races on Monday to trail by only one win.

Hollendorfer’s lineup: Ain’t No Other  (2nd, Elvis Trujillo, 6-1), Top Kisser (4th, Elvis Trujillo, 5-1), Cougar  Country (7th, Rafael Bejarano, 7-2), Iron Fist (8th, 5-1), Definitely Not (9th, Rafael Bejarano, 3-1), and Taste Like Candy (10th, Rafael Bejarano, 7-2).

Miller’s lineup:  Reneesgotzip  (4th, Edwin Maldonado, 5-2),  Zip Cat (5th, Agapito Delgadillo, 9-2), Lovenseek (7th, Edwin Maldonado, 20-1), Calculator (8th, Elvis Trujillo, 8-1) and Kukaluka (10th,  Drayden Van Dyke (8-1).

Source: Del Mar