Sharp Samurai meets Oceanside pair in La Jolla
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Photo:
Zoe Metz
Nine three-year-old males were entered Thursday for Sunday’s Grade III $150,000 La Jolla Handicap, the second leg of the summer meeting’s three-race series for sophomore runners on turf.
Two of nine, Paymaster Racing’s Pioneer Lad and Glen Hill Farm’s Caribou Club, ran in the first of the series, the Oceanside Stakes on opening day. Pioneer Lad was second in the one-mile Oceanside, beaten 1 ½ lengths by Bowies Hero. Caribou Club was another 1 ½ lengths back in third.
The 1 1/16-mile La Jolla is a stepping stone to the series-concluding Grade II 1 1/8-mile Del Mar Derby on Sunday, September 3.
One of those jumping into the middle of the series is Sharp Samurai, a Kentucky-bred son of First Samurai trained by Mark Glatt. Sharp Samurai has won two of three starts since being switched to turf in April, both of them at the distance of 1 1/8 miles. He enters off a win in the $75,000 Rainbow Stakes at Santa Anita on June 10.
“We didn’t really consider (the Oceanside),” Glatt said Thursday morning. “A flat mile is short of his best distance and what did they have, 14 in that race? “(Actually 13).
“We decided to keep him a little fresh, run in the La Jolla and with a good effort there maybe go on to the Del Mar Derby.”
The field from the rail: Fashion Business (Joe Talamo), Colonist (Flavien Prat), Placido (Rafael Bejarano), Pioneer Lad (Tyler Baze), Offshore (Evin Roman), Caribou Club (Drayden Van Dyke), Sharp Samurai (Gary Stevens), Double Touch (Kent Desormeaux) and Monster Man (Santiago Gonzalez).
Source: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
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