Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
DEL MAR Matriarch field coming up strong
DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar’s fall meeting is bookended by the Breeders’ Cup and the turf festival, and the nominations to the closing weekend’s races, released over the weekend, indicate that this meet will finish with a flourish heading to closing day, Nov. 26.
Nominations for the Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch Stakes for females on Nov. 26 came up particularly strong, with East Coast-based trainers such as Chad Brown, Christophe Clement, and Arnaud Delacour all expected to participate. Brown nominated three to the onemile grass race, including Quidura, who was bought at the Fasig-Tipton sale earlier this month by owner Peter Brant for $3.6 million. Off Limits and Rubilinda are Brown’s other nominees.
Clement will run Lull, who remained in California following her victory at Santa Anita in the Autumn Miss on Oct. 29. She worked four furlongs in 49.20 seconds on the Del Mar turf on Sunday.
Delacour will ship Hawksmoor, runner-up in the First Lady at Keeneland in her last start.
Champagne Room, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and sixth most recently in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, is nominated to the Matriarch – which would be her turf debut – but trainer Peter Eurton said he thought it would be “too soon after her last race to try grass for the first time.” Instead, Champagne Room is likely to await the Grade 2, $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 3.
“It’s either that or run in the La Brea against Paradise Woods and Unique Bella,” Eurton said of the Grade 1 La Brea Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.
“We’ve got a lot of good horses nominated to all our stakes that week,” said David Jerkens, Del Mar’s racing secretary. “The Matriarch looks like it’ll have a really good field.”
Sharp Samurai, Big Score, and Bowie’s Hero – the first three in the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Oct. 28 – look set for a rematch in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Nov. 25. Sharp Samurai, trained by Mark Glatt, would be seeking his fifth straight win in that race.
Bill Mott nominated both Channel Maker, who was fourth in the Twilight Derby, and Good Samaritan, the Jim Dandy winner who was fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in his last start but was an accomplished turf horse before moving to dirt.
The turf festival begins Nov. 23 with the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes at 1 3/8 miles for females. Arles, beaten a nose in this race last year, is expected to make a return visit for trainer Graham Motion after winning the Long Island at Aqueduct earlier this month.
Solid Wager after three-peat
Solid Wager will seek to win the $100,000 Cary Grant Stakes for the third straight year when he makes the 39th start of his career in the seven-furlong race for California-bred sprinters on Sunday.
Solid Wager is one of three horses trainer Peter Miller said he will run in the Cary Grant, along with California Diamond and Prime Issue.
Others under consideration for the race include Edwards Going Left, Green With Eddie, Jimmy Bouncer, Love My Bud, Smokey Image, Tribal Storm, and Well Measured.
On Saturday, Midnight Bisou, an unlucky loser at Santa Anita of her Oct. 27 debut, will be given a chance to get her first win in a stakes race when she makes her second start in the $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
Midnight Bisou, trained by Bill Spawr, made a strong late run and dropped a nose deci- sion to odds-on favorite Dream Team, who is among Midnight Bisou’s possible rivals in the seven-furlong Desi Arnaz.
Others being considered for the Arnaz include Just a Smidge, Ms Bad Behavior, One Fast Broad, Secret Spice, Smiling Tigress, and Steph Being Steph.
Eurton has hopes for filly
Chickatini, who makes her debut in race 6 on Thursday at Del Mar, is a homebred for Sharon Alesia and Joe Ciaglia. They raced her dam, She’s Cheeky, and then bred the mare to Bernardini.
Chickatini is the second foal by Bernardini and out of She’s Cheeky, but the first who made it to the races, as the first foal died shortly after birth.
“So they bred her back,” said Eurton, who trained She’s Cheeky and now trains Chickatini.
She’s Cheeky raced 26 times, and though she won only three times and never won a stakes race, she was graded stakes- placed seven times, including three times in Grade 1 races.
Eurton said Chickatini has trained well for her first start, “and she got a good draw,” he said, landing post 6 in the fivefurlong turf sprint for 2-yearold fillies.
There are several other promising newcomers in the race, including Hope Wins and Belle Monte for trainer Phil D’Amato, Sensible Myth for George Weaver, Enayat Alsalam for John Sadler, and Secret Causeway for Dan Hendricks.
◗ Javier Castellano was fined $1,000 by Del Mar’s stewards for excessive use of the whip when riding West Coast to a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4, the biggest fine among several levied from that weekend. Flavien Prat was fined $300 for excessive use of the whip aboard Battle of Midway, who won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3. Corey Nakatani ($300) and Tyler Baze ($100) also received fines for similar violations the first week of the meet.