Om to face deep field when stretching out in Del Mar's Seabiscuit

Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint runner-up Om will stretch back out to around two turns as part of a deep 10-horse field set for the Grade 2, $200,000 Seabiscuit Stakes for older turf runners at Del Mar on Saturday.

Counting Om, there are six graded winners and eight total stakes winners signed up for the 1 1/16-mile Seabiscuit. Not included in that group is Sacred Life, who was second in the Sept. 2 Bernard Baruch (G2) and is sent west by trainer Chad Brown off an open-lengths victory in a 1 1/16-mile Keeneland turf allowance on Oct. 10. 

Om, who was coming off a four-plus month layoff, was beaten 1 ¼-lengths by stablemate Belvoir Bay when completing the Peter Miller exacta in the Turf Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. The 7-year-old horse was a Grade 3 winner going a mile on the grass prior to the layoff and could move forward with a recent race in the books. Eastern-based rider Paco Lopez will ride Om for the first time.

This could mark a finale for Om, who once defeated American Pharoah when the two were juveniles back in 2014. Om is scheduled to stand at stud next year at California's Harris Farms for a $7,500 fee.

Among three entered by trainer Phil D’Amato are stakes winners Cleopatra’s Strike and Prince Earl. Cleopatra’s Strike exits a game win in the 1 ¼-mile John Henry (G2) at Santa Anita on Sept. 28. Abel Cedillo, who was aboard for the first time in the John Henry, will be back in the irons. A 6-year-old gelding, Cleopatra’s Strike has a record of 6: 1-2-1 at the Seabiscuit distance.

Prince Earl is a lightly-raced 4-year-old gelding with three wins in six starts. Making a belated seasonal debut, he stepped up to win the Del Mar Mile (G2) on Aug. 18 and came back to be beaten just a neck in the City of Hope Mile (G2) at Santa Anita on Oct. 5. D’Amato has always been high on Prince Earl and wanted to run him in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. 

The Seabiscuit will go as the sixth race with an approximate post time of 5:30 p.m. Eastern. 

The field with horse and rider:

1. River Boyne (Flavien Prat)

2. Ritzy A.P (John Velazquez)

3. Next Shares (Jose Valdivia)

4. Om (Paco Lopez)

5. Sacred Life (Javier Casttelano)

6. Majestic Eagle (Rafael Bejarano)

7. Prince Earl (Giovanni Franco)

8. Ronald R (Drayden Van Dyke)

9. Cleopatra’s Strike (Abel Cedillo)

10. Andesh (Joe Talamo)