O’Neill enters trio in Del Mar Juvenile Turf on closing day

Full and competitive fields await race fans on closing day at Del Mar. A total 139 horses are entered in the 11-race Sunday card, 12 of which will run in the Grade 3, $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf.

Trainer Doug O’Neill, fresh off his upset win in the Pacific Classic (G1) last weekend, is back with three horses in the Juvenile Turf, to be contested at a mile. Ivan the Great is coming in off of his maiden win last month. The son of Kantharos came with a sustained run down the lane and got up in the final strides.

“He’s running to his name,” assistant trainer Leandro Mora joked. “Let’s hope it stays that way. We saw that he really loves turf and distance. He’s one of those horses you love to have around the barn.”

Tiz Happy is another O’Neill entry. He broke his maiden at first asking in a turf sprint at Santa Anita in June and then got smoked by Getaway Car on the main track in the Best Pal. The trouble line in the chart for the race said he "climbed early."

“He’s very immature,” Mora stated, “but he’s changing a little bit. I’m not a hundred percent if he’s back to where we want him to be but he’s got a shot.”

The son of Runhappy will be returning to the grass on Sunday.

Pali Kitten is just the opposite. He ran a tiring fifth in his debut on the turf, then came back two weeks later and won on the dirt.

“He’s bred for grass,” Mora insists, “but the way he ran on the dirt it’s possible he might be a dirt horse.”

There are plenty of challengers to the O’Neill trio. Run for Kidder is coming in off of his maiden win in a five furlong sprint. After running second in his debut at Los Alamitos in July, the son of Stay Thirsty wired the field at Del Mar last month.

“He was real game in that race,” trainer Adam Kitchingman says. “He wasn’t going to let those horses go by him. The added distance will be a factor though his pedigree says ‘no’ and there’s the step up in class. So there are a lot questions. You don’t know until you try but he’s been training great and we didn’t have any other options for the grass so I figured we just give it a shot.”

Show of Force broke his maiden last out going one mile on the Jimmy Durante turf course and looks to be a good fit in the Juvenile Turf.

“The horse is really talented and doing great,” trainer Todd Fincher states. “He should keep getting better as we go. We hope he improves off of that (maiden win) and run a bigger race. I really think he’s better on the dirt but they want to run him long.”

Sabertooth ran second in both of his maiden tries, both at one mile on the turf. He lost to Show of Force in his debut and then got beat by a neck by Ivan the Great last out. The son of Grazen races out of the Tim Yakteen barn.

Uncle Dude is trainer Phil D’Amato’s lone entry in the race. He was third to Ivan the Great and Sabertooth last out, only beaten 1 ¼ lengths in the end.

An Chorr Dubh will be making her U.S. debut against the boys.

The 13th running of the G3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf is the ninth race on the 11-race closing day program on Sunday. Probable post is 2:30 p.m. EDT.

2024 Del Mar Juvenile Turf G3