SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LEADERS
Combined totals for Santa Anita and Los Alamitos since Dec. 26
JOCKEYS / WINS
Juan Hernandez / 92
Antonio Fresu / 83
Kyle Frey / 53
Umberto Rispoli / 52
Hector Berrios / 45
Edwin Maldonado / 45
Flavien Prat / 43
Frankie Dettori / 39
TRAINERS / WINS
Phil D’Amato / 51
Doug O’Neill / 51
Mark Glatt / 44
Bob Baffert / 40
Steve Knapp / 36
John Sadler / 32
Jeff Mullins / 29
Michael McCarthy / 25
Peter Miller / 25
WEEKEND STAKES (DEL MAR)
Saturday
• $200,000, Grade II San Clemente Handicap, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf
• $100,000 Oceanside Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile on turf
Sunday
• $100,000 Osunitas Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf
• $100,000 Wickerr Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Del Mar opens its eight-week meet Saturday with horses trying to extend winning streaks in the San Clemente Handicap (Medoro, Iscreamuscream) and Oceanside Stakes (King of Gosford, We’re in Trouble). The 11-race card drew 118 horses, including also-eligibles in five races. That’s less than the 124 horses entered in Del Mar’s 10-race season-opening card a year ago, but more than the 89 entered in Santa Anita’s 11-race opening-day card last December.
• After opening weekend, Del Mar runs Thursday through Sunday, plus the holiday on Monday, Sept. 2. First post is 2 p.m. on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 29, then 1:30. It’s 4 p.m. on Fridays through Aug. 9, then 3 p.m.
• Adding up win totals from the recent Santa Anita and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets finds Phil D’Amato and Doug O’Neill tied for leading trainer with 51 wins each (see the standings above). D’Amato had more stakes wins (16-6), while O’Neill had a higher winning percentage (18.5%-17.3%).
• Mindframe (Irad Ortiz Jr. riding) is a 9-5 morning-line favorite in the $1 million, Grade I Haskell Stakes for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on Saturday. The Belmont Stakes runner-up faces Belmont winner Dornoch (Luis Saez), Kentucky Derby beaten favorite Fierceness (John Velazquez), Timberlake (Flavien Prat), Tuscan Sky (Javier Castellano) and three others, if all start.
• Two top females run Saturday. Thorpedo Anna (Brian Hernandez Jr.), trying to improve to 4 for 4 in 2024, is 1-2 on the morning line for the $500,000, Grade I Coaching Club American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga. Idiomatic, last year’s champion older female, heads the $500,000, Grade III Molly Pitcher at Monmouth after having a win streak snapped at six in a narrow loss to Randomized in the Ogden Phipps Stakes.
• Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan looks unlikely to be ready to run in the Aug. 24 Travers Stakes at Saratoga but could make a later race, trainer Kenny McPeek told the Daily Racing Form’s David Grening. Mystik Dan ran in all three Triple Crown races, the first Derby winner in more than a decade to lose the Preakness (he finished second) but go on to compete in the Belmont (eighth).
• Ortiz will take some dislodging from his throne as Saratoga riding champion and Eclipse Award-winning jockey. But Prat, who headed east from Santa Anita this spring, is making noises about doing that. Prat had a big opening week at Saratoga in winning the Diana Stakes with Whitebeam and six other races to take a one-win lead over Ortiz.
— Kevin Modesti