Tag: Del Mar

Gufo owns five victories in seven career races, including this Belmont Derby win. He headlines a strong field in Saturday's Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. (Image: Sue Kawczynski/Eclipse Sportswire)

Horseplayers, Fans Give Thanks for These Strong Thanksgiving Races

- 4 min read

Even with COVID-19 wreaking scheduling havoc among many of the country’s marquee races, the traditional Thanksgiving weekend races provide comfort-food wagering opportunities for horseplayers, and intriguing races for food coma-recovering fans to savor. Churchill Downs plays host to one of the best end-of-year races anywhere, along with another glimpse at […]

Life Is Good won his debut by 9 1/2 lengths Sunday afternoon. He made enough of an impression to open at 12/1 on William Hill Nevada's Kentucky Derby Futures Board. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Life Is Good Certainly Proves it on William Hill Derby Futures Board

- 2 min read

It took exactly 75-½ seconds for Life Is Good to live up to his name, throw his hoof into the Kentucky Derby futures picture, and become the latest horse rocketing up William Hill Nevada’s Kentucky Derby Futures Board. After the Into Mischief progeny destroyed an over-classed quartet of maidens by […]

Midcourt's last victory came in February's San Pasqual Stakes. He is odds-on to repeat as Native Diver Stakes champion. (Image: Benoit Photo)

With Better Rivals Retired, Midcourt Ready to Hold Court in Native Diver

- 3 min read

There is no Maximum Security or Improbable to trouble Midcourt this time. This time, being Saturday’s Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar, where Midcourt is the trouble. Midcourt is the one to beat in the $100,000 Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes. The 1-1/8-mile jaunt for older horses sends a condensed […]

Knicks Go broke the track record in the Breeders' Cup Dirt mile earlier this month. He could run the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct Dec. 5. (Image: Coady Photography/Keeneland)

Don’t Take a Holiday on These Late-Season Races

- 3 min read

The Breeders’ Cup is in the rear-view mirror, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any prime late-season races on the horizon. The end of the year may seem like a racing lull before the calendar flips, but don’t let the last two months of the horse racing season go by […]

Spielberg -- the horse -- finished second in this summer's Del Mar Futurity. Expect the $1 million Bob Baffert trainee to ride the Road to the winner's circle in Sunday's Bob Hope Stakes. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Spielberg’s Next Close-Up Comes at Del Mar’s Bob Hope Stakes

- 3 min read

Spielberg going On the Road to Del Mar in the Bob Hope Stakes. It sounds like a Hollywood mashup, instead of the next hurdle on the heralded 2-year-old’s racing itinerary. The Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes is Sunday’s featured race at Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Meet. The $100,000 race sends […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. ranked No. 1 in North American jockey wins the last three years and earnings the last two. He became the latest prominent jockey testing positive for COVID-19. (Image: Gregory Bull/AP)

Top Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Latest Rider Testing Positive for COVID-19

- 2 min read

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. became the latest high-profile jockey testing positive for COVID-19. As a result, Ortiz goes back on the shelf for at least 10 days. The Daily Racing Form reported that Ortiz took the test Monday at his current Saratoga Springs, New York, residence. His […]

Not only did Bing Crosby popularize Del Mar in song, he took tickets on the track's July 1937 opening day. The San Diego-area seaside track named its stakes-heavy fall season after the iconic entertainer and horse fan. (Image: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club)

Del Mar Puts Plenty of Stakes in Fall Bing Crosby Season

- 3 min read

Del Mar’s fall season goes by the official name of the Bing Crosby Season. That’s an appropriate name honoring not only the San Diego-area’s track founder, but the amount of bling offered during its abbreviated meet. The seaside track features 16 stakes with $2,250,000 of purses during its 15-day meet, […]

Flavien Prat's closing-day victory aboard juvenile Dr. Schivel in the Del Mar Futurity gave the rider the Del Mar jockey title. The San Diego-area track boosted its handle 8% despite no fans and fewer race dates. (Image: Benoit Photography)

Del Mar Defies the Odds with Increased Handle, Decreased Racing Days

- 3 min read

Del Mar’s 2020 summer meet ran with 25% fewer racing days than there were in 2019, and without spectators. Even so, the seaside San Diego-area track increased its betting handle 8% from last year. Race-starved Californians combined with action-hungry bettors outside the state to boost the track’s handle to $466.68 […]

Maximum Security (7) edged Midnight Bisou to win February's inaugural Saudi Cup. Only Midnight Bisou, however, received her purse winnings this week as Saudi officials investigate Maximum Security's former trainer. (Image: Edward Whitaker)

Saudi Cup Purse Money Released to All but Maximum Security

- 2 min read

Nearly four months from its initial announcement to withhold Saudi Cup purse money, the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia announced it will award prize money to the horses finishing second through 10th. That conspicuously excludes race winner Maximum Security. The JCSA said it will withhold prize money from Maximum Security […]

Don't be surprised if you see a replay of Honor A.P.'s Santa Anita Derby victory romp in Saturday's Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. He is the 8/5 favorite in the Kentucky Derby prep. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Honor A.P. Returns, Cezanne Makes Stakes Debut at Shared Belief

- 3 min read

Honor A.P. is safely in the Kentucky Derby. So safe, he’s one of the favorites. Thousand Words is not-so-safely on the Derby bubble. And Cezanne is nowhere near the Churchill Downs gate, nor the bubble. That’s the scenario all three would-be Derby contenders face entering Saturday’s Shared Belief Stakes at […]

Maximum Security (left) held off Midcourt by a nose to win the San Diego Handicap. The 4-year-old colt is a 5/1 favorite to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Maximum Security Passes His First Test Back By a Nose

- 3 min read

All the pieces were in place to beat Maximum Security. He had a new jockey, a new trainer, a new track he hadn’t seen before — one that some of the best horses of their generations couldn’t figure out. And yet, while Saturday’s San Diego Handicap was the best opportunity […]

McKinzie, seen here winning the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes, will run the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar. It is the shortest race of his career. (Image: Benoit Photo)

McKinzie Goes on the Road to the Crosby, Improbable off to Whitney

- 3 min read

Go long and far, or go short and stay home. When it came to deciding where prize colt McKinzie would run next, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert opted for the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar over the 1 1/8-mile Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. Instead, Baffert sends Improbable […]

Maximum Security survived an inquiry to win last year's Haskell Invitational. He returns to the gate for the first time in five months at Saturday's Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. (Image: Equi-Photo)

Maximum Security’s Return Casts Big Shadow Over San Diego Handicap

- 3 min read

As hard as it is to fathom, given his dominance over major races, there are races Bob Baffert can’t solve. So in true Baffert form, for one of those races — the San Diego Handicap — Baffert is calling in maximum reinforcements. He’s bringing in Maximum Security, who makes his […]

After taking last weekend off due to a coronavirus outbreak among its jockeys, Del Mar's starting gate opens again beginning Friday. (Image: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club)

Making Up for Lost Time, Del Mar Adds Extra Day of Racing This Weekend

- 2 min read

After taking last weekend off due to the coronavirus, Del Mar resumes racing this weekend with an extra day tacked on. The California Horse Racing Board approved the track’s request for Monday racing, giving the San Diego area track four days of racing this weekend. Normally in this summer of […]

Del Mar was forced to close this weekend after 15 jockeys tested positive for COVID-19. The track is revamping its jockeys' room and instituting a travel ban on riders. (Image: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club)

Del Mar ‘Takes Weekend Off’ After 15 Riders Test Positive for COVID-19

- 3 min read

Del Mar abruptly canceled its weekend racing card for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after mass testing revealed 15 jockeys are positive for COVID-19. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper said in a statement that in the wake of numerous Southern California-based jockeys testing positive out of the Los Alamitos […]

This is one of Flavien Prat's 98 victories this year, aboard Toinette in the Wilshire Stakes June 20. The West Coast's top jockey tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday. (Image: Benoit Photo/AP)

Flavien Prat is Fifth Los Alamitos Rider Testing Positive for COVID-19

- 3 min read

The COVID-19 outbreak from Los Alamitos’ July 4 card claimed another jockey Sunday when Flavien Prat tested positive for the coronavirus. Prat, the West Coast’s leading rider, just captured the Santa Anita Park riding title. He’s also the fourth jockey from Los Alamitos’ Independence Day card to test positive, joining […]

The horses breaking from Del Mar's starting gate for its summer meet will undergo health scrutiny unlike any seen before. And they'll do it in front of empty grandstands at the seaside San Diego-area track. (Image: Horsephotos /Getty Images)

Del Mar Goes the Extra Miles Implementing Human, Horse Health Reforms

- 3 min read

In this coronavirus era, you expect to read about the health protocols for Del Mar’s impending summer meet. But officials from the seaside track north of San Diego unveiled further guidelines addressing horse safety along with human safety. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC), which operates the track, announced the […]

Maximum Security's hasn't raced since winning the $20 million Saudi Cup in late February. The 4-year-old standout colt returns to action July 18 at Del Marl. (Image: Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia)

Maximum Security Returns to Racing at Del Mar’s San Diego Handicap

- 2 min read

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert answered the question racing fans asked throughout the spring when he announced Maximum Security returns to action July 18 at Del Mar. Baffert told the Daily Racing Form 2019’s Champion 3-year-old male will run the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap. The 1 1/16-mile race […]

Ollie's Candy won her first three races and has finished in the money 10 times in 12 races. She goes for her second Grade 1 victory at Belmont Park Saturday in the Ogden Phipps. (Image: Santa Anita Park)

Ollie’s Candy Heads East in Search of a Sweet Trip in Ogden Phipps

- 3 min read

Instead of shipping her cross-country to Belmont Park for Saturday’s Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes, John Sadler could have run Ollie’s Candy on his home track at Santa Anita Park. The Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes was cozily sitting right there, like a ripe-for-the-picking peach. Plus, the Santa Maria came […]

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