Smiling Tiger Wires Field in Bing Crosby

The misfortune of odds-on favored Cost of Freedom at the break was good luck for victorious Smiling Tiger and jockey Victor Espinoza in the featured Grade I $250,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar Sunday.

Cost of Freedom, sent postward at 3-5 under jockey Rafael Bejarano, was expected to go to the lead after the start, per his front-running custom. However, the veteran speedster broke in the air and was away last in the six-horse field.

Cost of Freedom's tardy start gave Espinoza the opportunity to send Smiling Tiger to the front and the chestnut three-year-old was never headed, leading all the way and winning by  1 1/2 lengths over Australian-bred Scenic Blast, who in turn was 3 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place E.Z.'s Gentleman.

Cost of Freedom, who was seeking his third straight sprint triumph, rushed into contention after his poor start to press the pace of the eventual winner, but eventually tired to be fourth.

Smiling Tiger, a son of Hold That Tiger owned by Alan Klein and Phil Lebherz and trained by Jeff Bonde, who was winning his first Grade I stakes, ran the six furlongs in 1:09.21 and returned $17.80, $7.20 and $4 while earning $150,000 with his fourth success in seven starts. His earnings now total $333,864. Last summer, as a two-year-old, the colt was third to juvenile champion Lookin at Lucky in both the Best Pal Stakes and the Del Mar Futurity. Lookin at Lucky won the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Saturday.

Runner-up Scenic Blast, piloted by Mike Smith, paid $6.40 and $4.20, while E.Z's Gentleman, under Martin Pedroza, returned $3 to show.

Joel Rosario expanded his lead in the jockey standings with a triple -- Bandiera Union in the second, Hugs to All in the third and Dazzling Razz in the ninth and final to give him 17 winners through ten days of the 37-day Del Mar season, six more than Espinoza. The latter doubled today, including taking the Crosby Stakes.

 Sunday's attendance was 15,422.