Tag: Del Mar

Gear Jockey and Jose Lezcano needed a scratch for this Turf Sprint berth at Kentucky Downs. They parlayed that into a win and a spot in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar. (Image: Coady Photography)

Gear Jockey Shifts Into Sprint Mode Just In Time for Breeders’ Cup

When you watch Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and hear the name Gear Jockey, you need to understand the grinding wheels of opportunity-meets-preparation that it took to bring him to the Del Mar starting gate. Gear Jockey needed a scratch to get him into the Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. […]

Hot Rod Charlie earned his first Grade 1 win with this solid September score in the Pennsylvania Derby. He is the 4/1 third-favorite to win Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic. (Image: Parx Racing)

Hot Rod Charlie’s Breeders’ Cup Journey: From Footnote to Headliner

The last time Hot Rod Charlie arrived at the Breeders’ Cup, he was a 94/1 afterthought in a Juvenile field that included favored Jackie’s Warrior, eventual winner Essential Quality and the highly regarded Keepmeinmind, among other “name” 2-year-olds. Name? Hot Rod Charlie had only that cool moniker going for him. […]

After his 102 Beyer Speed Figure-clocking victory in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes, Jack Christopher figures to take a lot of money in Friday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Can he navigate two turns to pay off bettors backing him at low odds? (Image: Joe Labozzetta/NYRA Photos)

Five Juvenile Races Make Breeders’ Cup Friday Let The Kids Play Day

Make no mistake, the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf may anchor Friday’s opening day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. But the adventures of Charlie Appleby’s Modern Games and Albahr in that race might as well be the chorus when it comes to “Future Stars Friday,” as Breeders’ Cup […]

Gamine, seen here winning the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga, is the biggest favorite of the 14 Breeders' Cup favorites. She opens at 3/5 to defend her title in the Filly & Mare Sprint. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Dom Napolitano)

Knicks Go, Essential Quality Your Breeders’ Cup Classic Favorites

Knicks Go and Essential Quality are stablemates, travel mates from East Coast to West Coast and now – after Monday’s post-position draws – they are gate neighbors for Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. Essential Quality will start from post 4 in the nine-horse Classic field as […]

Knicks Go used this Lukas Classic victory as a tune-up for the Breeders' Cup Classic, where his speed figures top his competitors on two scales. (Image: Coady Photography)

Breeders’ Cup Speed Figures: Classic Questions, Possibilities Abound

Hot Rod Charlie, Art Collector, Medina Spirit and Stilleto Boy all come into the Breeders’ Cup Classic off career-best speed figures on all three barometers. Essential Quality and Max Player enter the fray off career-best marks on two tables. So what to make of this year’s 10-horse field in what […]

This year's Breeders' Cup wagering menu offers an all-turf Pick 4, mandating you pick the winners of four of the top Breeders' Cup grass races. (Image: K.C. Allred/San Diego Union-Tribune)

Breeders’ Cup Betting Menu Offers a Healthy Smorgasbord of Wagers

The Breeders’ Cup unveiled its 2021 wagering menu on Wednesday, adding a new All-Turf Pick 4 and a third Pick 5 to Saturday’s betting smorgasbord. Along with the wagering menu, officials for the Nov. 5-6 racing festival at Del Mar announced the official race order. Friday’s first day features 10 […]

Trainer Bob Baffert's Medina Spirit wired the field in the Grade 1 Awesome Again earlier this month. The star Baffert colt -- as well as his other Breeders' Cup entries -- will be allowed to run in the championships at Del Mar next month. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Breeders’ Cup Allows Baffert’s Horses to Run with Extra Conditions

After a nearly month-long “review process” on Bob Baffert’s status, Breeders’ Cup officials announced on Sunday that the Hall of Fame trainer can enter this year’s Nov. 5-6 event at Del Mar, with certain conditions. Those conditions include extra testing of his entries, which Baffert will pay for, along with […]

Mo Forza won back-to-back Del Mar Miles, illustrating why he is one of the best turf milers in North America. He seeks validation there as the 6/5 favorite in Saturday's City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita Park. (Image: Coolmore)

Standout Miler Mo Forza Likely the Best Turf Horse Under Your Radar

Mo Forza built himself quite the career running under your radar. One of the best turf milers in the country – or the world, according to trainer Peter Miller – is also one of the best horses you’ve probably never bet. If you have, you’re undoubtedly relishing the windfall this […]

Jockey Tiago Pereira rode Tripoli to Horse of the Meet honors at Del Mar. Tripoli won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and helped owners Hronis Racing take its sixth Del Mar owners title and fourth in the last five years. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Del Mar Wrap: Nothing Average About Record Average Daily Handle

Del Mar closed its 82nd summer season with a track record for daily average handle, watching horseplayers wager an average of nearly $18.4 million each day of the 31-day meet. That surpassed last year’s daily average of $17.3 million, which came without fans in the stands thanks to the pandemic. […]

Nobody has looked Flightline in the eye at the end of his first two races. He won a Sunday Del Mar allowance optional claimer by 12 3/4 lengths, clocking the best Beyer Speed Figure by an American horse this year. (Image: West Point Thoroughbreds)

As Del Mar’s Pick 6 Pool Soars, Flightline Proves He’s Still an Ace

Sunday’s penultimate day of Del Mar’s summer season not only brought a six-figure rollover to the track’s elusive Jackpot Pick 6, but the re-emergence of one of the country’s sprinting stars in Flightline. While horseplayers were setting the betting table for what figures to be a $6 million-plus pot for […]

Pappacap impressed in both his races, including this stalking victory in the Grade 2 Best Pal. He is a strong contender to win Monday's Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Del Mar Futurity Gives You Derby Prospects Worth Watching

The Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity is another one of those races carrying a heavy Bob Baffert flavor. The Hall of Fame trainer won the Futurity a record 14 times, including seven consecutive victories between 1996 and 2002. That’s not surprising when you consider it’s one of the top 2-year-old […]

Flashiest and Abel Cedillo rallied from sixth entering the stretch to win the Oceanside Stakes on Del Mar's July 16 opening-day card. He is one of the favorites in Saturday's Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Flashiest Wants to Go Forward in his Back-Up Race

Trainer Leonard Powell’s comments about Flashiest entering a deep Del Mar Derby field is more an indictment on Flashiest’s last race than an indictment on Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. “The Saratoga trip didn’t work out as we had planned, definitely not,” Powell told Del Mar. “Maybe if he […]

Del Mar's Bing Crosby Season once again goes heavy on turf stakes. Track officials wrote 11 of its 12 graded-stakes races for  the grass. (Image: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club)

Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Season Sings a Grassy Stakes Tune

Del Mar renewed its emphasis on turf racing for its Bing Crosby Season, announcing a stakes schedule going deep on the seaside track’s Jimmy Durante Turf Course. Aside from the Nov. 5-6 Breeders’ Cup returning to Del Mar for the first time since 2017, the track features 18 stakes races. […]

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit won his third race of 2021 with this 1 1/4-length victory in the Shared Belief Stakes over Rock Your World. The two sophomores may see each other for the fourth time this year in either the Pennsylvania Derby or Awesome Again Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Medina Spirit Edges Rock Your World in the Shared Belief

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit returned to racing for the first time in 3 ½ months on Sunday, capturing the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. Along the way, Medina Spirit turned a trick no other Bob Baffert-trained horse has ever done. “For what this horse has gone through, he’s […]

Controversial Kentucky Derby champion Medina Spirit may return to the gate for the first time since May 15 at Saturday's Grade 3 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. (Image: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography)

Derby Champion Medina Spirit May Return Saturday for Shared Belief

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, who hasn’t run since finishing third in the May 15 Preakness Stakes, could be back this Saturday for the Grade 3 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. According to the Daily Racing Form, the Bob Baffert-trainee’s return is contingent on a Monday workout for the […]

Tripoli and Tiago Pereira put on a vintage performance in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. Del Mar's flagship race fueled a record day in betting handle at the San Diego-area track. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Del Mar Breaks Previous Daily Handle Record With $36 Million Windfall

Fueled by an eight-figure Jackpot Pick 6 pool, Del Mar set a single-day handle record Saturday, drawing $36,005,613 in wagers. The windfall washed down on Del Mar’s 11-race Pacific Classic card. In doing so, it destroyed the previous record of $25,870,431 set on Pacific Classic day in 2018. Much of […]

United captured the Eddie Read Stakes on this Del Mar turf last month. He is one o the favorites in the Del Mar Handicap, which anchors this week's all-stakes Cross Country Pick 5. (Image: Benoit Photo)

From Saratoga and Del Mar, Cross Country Pick 5 Lives Up to Its Name

This week’s New York Racing Association Cross Country Pick 5 truly lives up to its name, putting out an all-graded stakes wager from Saratoga and Del Mar. The sequence includes three Grade 1s and two Grade 2s from the two tracks, located on opposite ends of the US. As usual, […]

Despite his San Luis Rey Stakes win here, Ward 'n Jerry finds allowance company more to his liking. The 8-year-old runs in a Del Mar allowance Thursday that could key Del Mar's Jackpot Pick 6. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Bettors Get Three More Cracks at Del Mar’s $1.64 Million Jackpot Pick 6

On the surface, Del Mar’s eight-race Thursday card appears drama-free from a stakes standpoint. But, there’s plenty of inherent drama stemming from a $1,645,118 carry-over to the track’s 20-cent Jackpot Pick 6 wager. That wager enters its 17th day without a winner, rolling over for 16 consecutive days into Thursday. […]