DEL MAR LEADERS
FINAL
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 47
Antonio Fresu / 36
Umberto Rispoli / 32
Hector Berrios / 22
Kyle Frey / 20
Kazushi Kimura / 18
Reylu Gutierrez / 13
Armando Ayuso / 13
Edwin Maldonado / 12
Abel Cedillo / 11
Trainers / Wins
Bob Baffert / 23
Phil D’Amato / 21
Doug O’Neill / 18
John Sadler / 17
Mark Glatt / 16
Michael McCarthy / 13
George Papaprodromou / 13
Peter Miller / 13
Jeff Mulliins / 11
Carla Gaines / 9
Bob Hess Jr. / 9
WEEKEND STAKES
LOS ALAMITOS THOROUGHBREDS
Saturday
• $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes, California-bred 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile
LOS ALAMITOS QUARTER HORSES
Saturday
• $125,000, Grade I Mildred Vessels Memorial, quarter-horse fillies and mares, 3 and up, 400 yards
Sunday
• $270,000 PCQHRA Breeders Futurity, 2-year-old quarter horses, 350 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Man O Rose (Edwin Maldonado), winner of 6 of 10 starts in sprints at Santa Anita and Del Mar since joining Jeff Mullins’ barn, tries a new distance and track in the 1-mile E.B. Johnston Stakes on the first Saturday of a short Los Alamitos thoroughbred meet. The field of eight California-breds includes Fast Draw Munnings (Tyler Baze), second to Kings River Knight in this race last year, and Cowboy Mike (Kyle Frey), off since tiring to fourth in the Bertrando Stakes at Los Al in June.
• The Los Al thoroughbred meet begins Friday and will run for six days, with racing Friday-Saturday-Sunday through Sept. 22, first post 1 p.m. The richer of two stakes is the $125,000 Dark Mirage, 1 mile for fillies and mares, on Sept. 21. Frey and trainer Jorge Periban led the standings at the Los Al thoroughbred meet in June and July, and jockeys Juan Hernandez, Diego Herrera and Ramon Vazquez tied for the lead while trainer Bob Baffert won the title at the September meet in 2023.
• In Los Al night quarter-horse racing, the Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap on Saturday finds Pattys Saint (Eduardo Nicasio riding) seeking a sweep of the track’s three richest races for fillies and mares. The field of 10 includes Fearless Moon (Oscar Peinado) and Jes An Angel (Noe Garcia Jr.).
• Richard Mandella-trained Goliad pounced on the big purses at Kentucky Downs, the European-style racecourse in Franklin, Ky., winning two races and $1,495,200 in purses in a seven-day span, more than quintupling the 7-year-old gelding’s career earnings. The second win, on Sunday, came with jockey Flavien Prat at 9-1 odds in the $2 million, Grade III Mint Millions Stakes at 1 mile on turf. Goliad’s last previous win was in the $100,000, Grade III Thunder Road at Santa Anita in February.
• Doug O’Neill-trained Anarchist, who passed up a chance for a repeat victory in the Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar, ran in the $1 million Korea Sprint in Seoul on Sunday and finished third with jockey Edwin Maldonado behind odds-on winner Remake. Anarchist earned more than $100,000, almost as much as the 5-year-old would have made by winning the $250,000 O’Brien. It was a good weekend out of town for the O’Neill barn, which sent Mucino up the California coast to win with jockey Cerapio Figueroa in the 1 5/8-mile Humboldt County Marathon at Ferndale. The Marathon purse was raised from $20,000 to $50,000 this year.
• Daily Racing Form figures showed betting on Del Mar races during the season that ended Sunday, amounting to $360.9 million, was down 7.8% from 2023 and 17.9% from 2022. Del Mar released only an overall handle figure of $502.9 million, including simulcast betting on days without live racing at the San Diego County track; that was down 4.7% from last year. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president Joe Harper called it a “solid meet” anyway, saying declines were expected because of schedule changes and the decision to cut off computer-assisted win wagers two minutes before post time for each race, reducing the number of late odds drops but turning away some handle.
• Two horses died in races during the 31 days of competition, the first time the Del Mar summer meet had more than one racing fatality since the California Horse Racing Board began posting data in 2020. The deaths of Giver Not a Taker on July 21 and Handsome Red on Aug. 3 were attributed to musculoskeletal causes. Overall, four horses died in racing, training and other activity from all causes, which is fewer than the six in 2023 and slightly below the four-year average of 4.5. Earlier this year, Santa Anita reported improvements in safety, with two deaths from 6,678 starts at the track’s winter-spring meet, marking the Arcadia track’s lowest recorded equine fatality rate.
• Iscreamuscream was chosen as Horse of the Meet at Del Mar in a press-box vote that was close among several candidates. Iscreamuscream, also named top 3-year-old filly of the meet, won the Grade II San Clemente Handicap and Grade I Del Mar Oaks with Hector Berrios riding for trainer Phll D’Amato. She’s the first Del Mar Horse of the Meet since the mare Zenyatta in 2010 to come from outside the ranks of older males and Pacific Classic winners.
— Kevin Modesti
