Stable Notes November 30, 2024

Chad Brown © Benoit Photo

CHAD BROWN SHIPS FOUR FOR SUNDAY’S G1 MATRIARCH

You can generally rely on trainer Chad Brown bringing a small string of quality horses to Del Mar for the annual Fall Turf Festival. Since 2016, when Brown won his first stakes race at Del Mar, the New York-based trainer has won 19 stakes and all but one (the 2019 Del Mar Oaks) came this time of year. Three were Breeders’ Cup victories. The rest were during the Turf Festival. 

In 2020, Brown won four of the seven stakes races that make up the Turf Festival. Every year since he’s won two races, last year the G1 Hollywood Derby with Program Trading and the G1 Matriarch with Surge Capacity. 

Brown has owned the Matriarch in recent years. He’s won six of the last seven runnings and comes with a full arsenal of horses this year. Brown has four entered in Del Mar’s final stakes race of the year led by Gina Romantica, a 5-year-old daughter of Into Mischief who has over $1.7 million in earnings. She is a multiple Grade I winner, taking the last two runnings of the G1 First Lady and the 2022 G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, all at Keeneland. 

“It’s her last career race,” Brown gives for the reasons he’s bringing her to the West Coast, “It’s a Grade I. It’s a mile and she’s proven at the distance. I’ve had a lot of success in the race and it all just made sense.”

Gina Romantica came west one other time for the 2023 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita where she ran fourth against the boys in the Mile. She missed the Breeders’ Cup this year with a quarter crack.

Three of her stablemates will be joining her in the Matriarch. Child of the Moon and Prerequisite were shoulder to shoulder at the end of their last race, Child of the Moon running down Prerequisite to win the $150,000 Athenia at the Belmont at the Big A meet in October. A neck separated the two.

“They both ran terrific,” Brown says. “This is a big step up in a Grade I competition. Child of the Moon has never seen Grade Is before. Prerequisite has and has run well. With both horses, cutting back to a mile is the real question mark. It’s a little short for both of them to be their very best but I think if they get the right trip it could work out for them.”

The fourth Brown horse is Klaravich Stables’ Tax Implications, a 4-year-old English-bred who will be ridden by Joel Rosario.

Stepping up to take on the Brown contingent is Ag Bullet, a speed-ball out of the Richard Baltas barn, who set a record for 6 ½ furlongs at Kentucky Downs this summer winning the G2 Ladies Turf Sprint. The daughter of Twirling Candy finished a close third in her last race, the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

“I was surprised she ran as good as she did against the boys,” Baltas states. “She just tries so hard every time. She has a lot of talent. I thought five-eighths might have been a little short for her but he (Umberto Rispoli) rode her good. She came off the pace and gave us a thrill there. She got beat by a neck but I thought she was going to win it there for a second.”

While Ag Bullet does some of her best running in sprints she’s not exactly stretching out in the one mile Matriarch.

“She’s won twice going a mile,” Baltas says, “but she doesn’t beat these kinds of horses going a mile. But I don’t think it’s going to matter. As long as she gets a good trip. She drew well. There’s some speed in the race. If she runs her race she’ll be right there.”

Mouffy is doing something she’s only done twice before in her 15-race career: run back-to-back races at the same track. She finished fourth in the Goldikova on the Breeders’ Cup undercard at Del Mar last out. She’s run at six different racetracks this year, her most recent win coming at Woodbine in the G2 Dance Smartly in October.

“She ran super,” trainer Jonathan Thomas says of the race in Canada. “She’s always hinted that kind of ability.”

The 44th running of the G1 Matriarch is Race 7 on Sunday’s nine-race card. Probable post time is 3:30 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Sacred Wish (John Velazquez, 12-1); Tirupati (Kazushi Kimura, 30-1); Ag Bullet (Umberto Rispoli, 3-1); Child of the Moon (Manuel Franco, 10-1); Aussie Girl (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 20-1); Mouffy (Vincent Cheminaud, 15-1); Tax Implications (12-1); Kehoe Beach (SCRATCHED); Prerequisite (Flavien Prat, 6-1); Aspen Grove (Juan Hernandez, 20-1); Gina Romantica (Jose Ortiz, 8/5), and Nadette (Hector I. Berrios, 15-1).

JUVENILES TAKE A SWING AT GRADED STAKES IN CECIL B. DEMILLE

Three stakes races are on tap at Del Mar Sunday, closing day at the seaside oval. Nine juveniles will go in the G3 Cecil B. DeMille, a one mile test on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course that is the middle leg of the stakes triple.

It’s an evenly matched group, so much so that the morning line favorite is still a maiden. Scipio ran third in his debut and then trainer Richard Baltas tossed his ridgling into stakes company and the son of Caravaggio made a good account of himself, finishing third in the G3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf just a neck back of Sabertooth in second and just three-quarters of a length back of the winner, Artislas. 

“He’s had a little trouble all three times he’s run,” Baltas says. “He got behind a slow pace last time, had nowhere to go and had to check. The first time he ran he got left in the gate and had a rough trip. Hopefully he’ll have a better trip this time and get the money.”

Scipio ran on the undercard of Breeders’ Cup Friday and finished fourth in the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Like his previous race, he finished with a flourish.

“The horse has continued to train well,” Baltas contends. “Definitely he’s a talented horse.” 

He’ll most likely have to catch Clock Tower, who has one gear and that’s ‘Fast’. He has been on the front end of all four of his races, holding on once to break his maiden by 6 ½ lengths at Kentucky Downs in August. He got run down in the other three but his last race, the G2 Bourbon at Churchill Downs, was a mile and a sixteenth, longer than today’s Cecil B. DeMille. 

“He’s doing great,” says Blake Heath, assistant trainer to Wesley Ward. “He schooled beautiful yesterday (Friday) and he’s looking good. He’s pretty fast, he’s the speed of the race. It’s a good spot for him. This turf course is a little bit faster for him and he’s a beautiful moving horse.”

This will be Clock Tower’s first race in Southern California, after running three times in Kentucky and once in New York.

On the other hand, Pali Kitten has made all of his starts in Southern California, including last out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar.

“That was a tough race,” trainer Doug O’Neill notes. “Things needed to go absolutely perfectly. But he came out of it in great shape. This race (the Cecil B. DeMille) is not an easy race but much softer for sure.”

Pali Kitten won his prep for the Breeders’ Cup, the Speakeasy at Santa Anita in October.

“Anything close to that, going a mile, I think he’s got a chance,” O’Neill adds. “We know he likes it down here.”      

Oragami is not only making her Del Mar debut, but this will be her first start ever in the U.S. The Irish-bred joined trainer Jack Sisterson’s barn this summer.

It’s the 43rd running of the Cecil B. DeMille, formerly known as the Generous Stakes. It’s named after the legendary filmmaker. It’s Race 5 on the nine-race Sunday card. Probable post is 2:30 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Prince Dolce (Umberto Rispoli, 10-1); Origami (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Kale’s Angel (Joel Rosario, 12-1); Scipio (Flavien Prat, 8/5); Lazio (Jose Ortiz, 20-1); Snowdonia (Hector I. Berrios, 8-1); Game Warrior (Antonio Fresu, 15-1); Clock Tower (John Velazquez, 3-1), and Pali Kitten (Kazushi Kimura, 6-1).

ALL-STAR ROSTER OF JOCKEYS SET TO RIDE AT DEL MAR THIS WEEKEND

It’s the closest thing to a jockeys all-star weekend you’ll ever get at Del Mar, outside of the Breeders’ Cup. In addition to the star-studded jockey colony already here at Del Mar this fall, a number of top name riders have descended on the seaside oval hoping to harvest some of the riches up for grabs during the Fall Turf Festival now underway. 

Eight of the top 12 earnings leaders in the nation are riding this weekend at Del Mar starting with the leader Flavien Prat, who is the pick of many for this year’s Eclipse Award. Prat is a regular at Del Mar in the fall, returning to his old stomping grounds this time of year to renew old acquaintances and add to his gaudy numbers. 

Prat leads the nation in earnings with over $36 million coming into Saturday’s racing. He has 218 victories this year but most importantly he has 78 stakes wins, one shy of Irad Ortiz, Jr.’s record and 53 graded stakes victories, two shy of the record set by Jerry Bailey back in 2003. Prat is also just one stakes score away from his 100th at Del Mar.

Prat clinched the earnings title at Del Mar at the beginning of the month with two Breeders’ Cup wins. His $5.6 million in earnings is over $2 million better than the next one in line, William Buick with $3.2 million. Buick has returned to England and will not be adding to his totals here at Del Mar this year. But John Velasquez, who walked away from the Breeders’ Cup with $2.3 million in earnings, can add to his sum.

Velazquez is here for the Turf Festival along with the Ortiz Brothers (Irad and Jose), Manny Franco, Dylan Davis, Joel Rosario and Frankie Dettori. Throw in Juan Hernandez, who leads the Del Mar fall meet with 15 wins and is 13th in the national jockey rankings, and you have arguably the strongest line-up of jockeys outside of the Breeders’ Cup here at Del Mar for the next couple of days.

STORMY LIBERAL MATCHES TOP SPRINTERS IN TURF DASH SUNDAY

The first of the stakes races Sunday is the $100,000 Stormy Liberal, a five furlong turf sprint that launches the stakes triple slated for Del Mar on closing day. 

Once again Phil D’Amato has a stacked deck in this one, with three of the nine entries including Unconquerable Keen and Turn On The Jets, stablemates that have been knocking heads with each other in five of their last six races. For those keeping score, Unconquerable Keen holds the edge over Turn On the Jets 3-to-2 in their head-to-head meetings. In their last, an open four-horse allowance race at Santa Anita, a nose separated the two, Turn On The Jets getting the photo for second.

D’Amato’s other entry is Sorrento Sky, an Irish-bred who came to the trainer’s barn earlier this year. He’s run primarily in allowance races. His one venture into stakes company ended with a fourth-place finish in the $100,000 Desert Code in May.

Just Nails comes into the Stormy Liberal off of a near miss in the Senator Ken Maddy on the Breeders’ Cup Friday undercard at Del Mar. 

“Trying the males and we have Frankie (Dettori) back on her,” trainer Doug O’Neill says. “She’s training very well, she likes it down here and I think she’ll be very competitive in there.”

Slider is back on the West Coast after returning from a 10-month layoff in an allowance race at Keeneland. Trainer John Sadler tried her in the G2 San Vicente earlier this year and she ran a respectable third behind Muth.

There’s also Johnny Podres, a hard knocking 7-year-old with 42 lifetime starts. He won the $100,000 Sensational Star and the $100,000 Siren Lure at Santa Anita earlier this year and posted runner-up finishes in both of his races at Del Mar this summer, including the G3 Green Flash. 

It’s the third running of the Stormy Liberal, named after the fabulous sprinter who won back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprints in 2017 at Del Mar and 2018 at Churchill Downs. It’s Race 3 on the closing day card. Probable post is 1:30 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Sorrento Sky (Kazushi Kimura, 5-1); Boss Sully (Armando Ayuso, 10-1); Just Nails (6-1); Unconquerable Keen (Umberto Rispoli, 3-1); Slider (Flavien Prat, 5-1); Turn On The Jets (Juan Hernandez, 9/2); Noble Reflection (Jose Ortiz, 20-1); Johnny Podres (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 6-1), and Sassy Nature (Edwin Maldonado, 12-1).

COOLING OUT: Trainer Jonathan Thomas says Truly Quality came out of his win in the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup in good condition and will be pointed to the marathon races at Santa Anita this winter, or take a break and point to the bigger graded stakes next year… Del Mar and the California racing community were saddened to learn of the passing of trainer Ben Cecil, who lost his fight with cancer Friday. He trained from 1996 until his passing and won 16 stakes at Del Mar, including the Grade I Del Mar Oaks in 2001 with Golden Apples, who went on the following season to be declared America’s Eclipse Award winner as top female turf runner.  One of his chief client’s was the highly successful businessman and horse owner J. Paul Reddam. Cecil leaves behind his wife Kristina, as well as a son and a daughter. He was 56.