As they say, no rest for the wicked. We put the wrap on Del Mar on Wednesday and jump right into Fairplex Park on Thursday. While Del Mar is always one of our favorite tracks we can't say we had a good time there this season as it was a sub-par meeting for us with below normal percentages for us. While it's not fair to blame the synthetic surface for our bad numbers since everybody has to handicap on the same surface, we sure would like to see some consistency in the track.
Speaking on consistency, how about the Del Mar Stewards call on Sunday when they let Twirling Candy stand after fouling Summer Movie? That is perhaps one of the worst calls we have seen in the game since we got involved 40-years ago. Brutal.
However, the meeting provided lots of bright spots like normal and all and all was a successful one. Kudos to management with them offering a minimum 50-cent Pick 4 which helped increase the handle of the Pick 4 and to great coverage on Facebook, which allowed fans to be apart of racing and comment on their experience at the track. One thing we could do without next year however is the "Cougar" promotion as the track promotes the older, affluent breast implanted and botox injected women that want to hook up and hang out with the with the younger guys trackside. Del Mar Management seemed fascinated in posting picks on Facebook and having one of these ladies crowned "Miss Cougar." Enough of this nonsense.
Congratulations to leading trainer Doug O'Neill and leading jockey Joel Rosario for a job and meeting well done. Rosario and Rafael Bejarano battled until the final race as Rosario prevailed by hanging a nose at the wire and winning the title. O'Neill had wrapped up the title long ago.
Rafael Bejarano certainly didn't look like a leading rider candidate with his ride aboard Late Cuddle at odds on in the 5th race on Friday. Bejarano had the mare 4, 5-wide throughout and never did try to get her inside. Perhaps next time we'll see a rider switch on the Jerry Hollendorfer trained mare.
Those who saw Tell a Kelly win Saturday's Darley Debutante witnessed a visually impressive performance by a very talented filly. Racing for the John Sadler stable under Alonso Quinonez, the daughter of Tapit drew away for a powerful score, beating the undefeated Wickedly Perfect easily to pay $11.20. This filly needs to be followed as it looks like owners Ike and Dawn Thrash have a nice one.
The Del Mar Derby Sunday was won by Twirling Candy but result shouldn't have been allowed to stand up. Those that haven't seen this race need to see it. No mistake the 1/5 shot was best, but the son of Candy Ride completely took out Summer Movie and should have been DQ'ed for his win. The connections of John Sadler and Jenny Craig remained classy as owner Jenny Craig approached and apologized to the owners of Summer Movie for the incident. Twirling Candy remains undefeated and is now 4 for 4.
The Torrey Pines was won by Switch for the popular connections of John Sadler and Joel Rosario as the daughter of Quiet American took home the winners share of the $100,000 purse. Switch was winning for the third time in eight lifetime starts.
Closing day on Wednesday saw J P's Gusto win the Grade I $250,000 Del Mar Futurity under Patrick Valenzuela for trainer David Hofmans. The 2-year-old son of Successful Appeal looked quite powerful in his win and looks to have serious designs on the future as it appeared from his effort he can go further in distance.
Heading to the track? Don't forget to take us with you! Sign up now at http://www.horseracing-selections.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment