Dozen in Grade I Matriarch Highlights Meet Closing Sunday at Del Mar

Gina Romantica © Benoit Photo

Twelve high-line fillies and mares will test their mettle Sunday at Del Mar in the Grade I Matriarch Stakes as the curtain comes down on the 11th Bing Crosby Season with a stakes tripleheader topped by the 44th edition of the $300,000 filly/mare headliner that brings the track’s popular Turf Festival to a stirring close.

In addition to the Matriarch, which goes as Race 7 on a nifty nine-race card, there also will be a pair of other black-type events up for grabs. Race 5 will see nine juveniles match up going eight furlongs on turf in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, preceded by nine older runners sprinting five furlongs in Race 3 on Jimmy Durante Turf Course in the Stormy Liberal Stakes.

The Matriarch, which will be contested for the 44th time, has a strong eastern lean to it with no fewer than 10 of the 12 starters having eastern connections. In particular, four of the distaffers – three 4-year-old fillies and one 5-year-old mare – have been sent west by multiple-Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown. The trainer, you see, has solid history with the race, having won six of its past seven runnings, including the last four in a row.

Not surprisingly, he’s got the likely horse to beat in this renewal in Peter Brant’s mare Gina Romantica, who’ll be making her Del Mar debut under top rider Jose Ortiz as the 8/5 morning line favorite.

The $100,000, Grade III Cecil B. DeMille will be headed by a most-promising maiden named Scipio for owners Nguyen or Tran running out of the barn of trainer Richard Baltas. The youngster has been to the post three times and run third twice and fourth once, with the last two solid efforts coming in stakes. He’ll be handled by top rider Flavien Prat.

Then the $100,000 Stormy Liberal will feature nine sprinters, topped by the Phil D’Amato-trained Unconquerable Keen, who races for CYBT, Aldabbagh or Nentwig. The 5-year-old gelding is a six-time winner, including a tally in this same turf race last year. Umberto Rispoli has the call.

Here are the fields for the three races with riders and morning line odds:

Matriarch Stakes – Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables and Adkisson et al’s Sacred Wish (John Velazquez, 12-1); Augustin Stables’ Tirupati (Kazushi Kimura, 30-1); Nguyen or Tran’s Ag Bullet (Rispoli, 3-1); Madaket, Dub and Lazzinnaro’s Child of the Moon (Manny Franco, 3-1); Woodford Thoroughbreds’ Aussie Girl (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 20-1); Augustin Stables’ Mouffy (Vincent Cheminaud, 15-1); Klaravich Stables’ Tax Implications (Joel Rosario, 12-1); Fairview’s Kehoe Beach (Lenfranco Dettori, 10-1); First Row Partners’ Prerequisite (Flavien Prat, 6-1); Glen Hill Farm or Magnier’s Aspen Grove (Juan Hernandez, 20-1); Gina Romantica, and Stepaside Farm’s Nadette (Hector I. Berrios, 15-1).

Cecil B. DeMille Stakes – Irvin Racing Stable’s Prince Dolce (Rispoli, 10-1); Grund, Berk or Oster, et al’s Origami (Hernandez, 8-1); Kagele or Marchosky’s Kale’s Angel (Rosario, 12-1); Scipio (8/5); Panic Stable or Youngblood’s Lazlo (Jose Ortiz, 20-1); D K Racing, Qatar Racing or Maciariello, et al’s Snowdonia (Berrios, 8-1); Jethorse’s Game Warrior (Antonio Fresu, 15-1); Mrs. Fitriani Hay’s Clock Tower (Velaquez, 3-1), and Bambauer, Cahill or Knight, et al’s Pali Kitten (Kimura, 6-1).

Stormy Liberal Stakes – CYBT, Gevertz or Nentwig, et al’s Sorrento Sky (Kimura, 5-1); Brown, Klein or Lebherz’s Boss Sully (Armando Ayuso, 10-1); Button Stable or Hicker’s Just Nails (Dettori, 6-1); Unconquerable Keen (3-1); Hall Racing, Perl Racing or West’s Slider (Prat, 5-1); Benowitz Family Trust, CYBT or Nentwig’s Turn On The Jets (Hernandez, 9/2); Nguyen or Tran’s Noble Reflection (Jose Ortiz, 20-1); Bernsen or Rockingham Ranch’s Johnny Podres (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 6-1), C T R Stables’ Sassy Nature (Edwin Maldonado, 12-1).

First post, as always, will be 12:30 p.m.