Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
‘Moonshine’ may stick around
DEL MAR, Calif. - A small field may keep Grade 1 stakes winner Moonshine Memories at Del Mar for Sunday’s Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap.
As of the weekend, the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs had six probable starters, led by 2017 winner Skye Diamonds. Other candidates were Anonymity, Deer Valley, Munny Spunt, and Turkish Tabby. Munny Spunt and Turkish Tabby were supplemented for $1,000 last Sunday.
Moonshine Memories is the only 3-year-old among the probable starters. Simon Callaghan, who trains Moonshine Memories for Bridlewood Farm and the Coolmore Stud syndicate, also is considering the Grade 1 Prioress Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Sept. 3 at Saratoga, but said the Rancho Bernardo is intriguing because of his filly’s success on the track.
“We’ll be receiving some weight,” Callaghan said. “If we run, we’ll see how we fit in the older [female] category going forward. We know she likes Del Mar. This is a good distance for her.
“Having said that, the Prioress is six furlongs and that’s a good distance for her. You can make a case for that.”
Marley’s Freeedom, winner of the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos last month, is the 126-pound highweight, but is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes on Aug. 25 at Saratoga. Skye Diamonds was assigned 122 pounds, five more than Moonshine Memories.
Moonshine Memories has won 4 of 7 starts and earned $518,500. She has won three sprints here, including a maiden race in her debut last August and the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante last September. Moonshine Memories was seventh as the 2-1 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies here last November.
On July 19, the second day of the current meeting, Moonshine Memories won an allowance race for 3-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs.
The Rancho Bernardo would be her first start outside of her age group.
Ransom the Moon eyes O’Brien
Ransom the Moon, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 28, has earned another start at the current Del Mar summer meeting.
Trainer Phil D’Amato plans to run Ransom the Moon in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on Aug. 25.
“He’s galloping so strongly I’m looking toward the Pat O’Brien,” D’Amato said. “I think he’s one of those horses that knows he won and he’s back on his game. I’ve wanted to see that for some time.”
Ransom the Moon holds a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs for his win in the six-furlong Bing Crosby. Ransom the Moon closed from ninth in a field of 11 to win by 2 1/4 lengths over Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017.
The Pat O’Brien offers a berth to the BC Dirt Mile.
Roy H is unlikely to start in the Pat O’Brien and is a candidate for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs on Oct. 6, according to Brian Trump, racing manager for co-owner Rockingham Ranch. The winner of the Santa Anita Sprint Championship receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint.
Mullins has solid 3-year-olds
Victories by River Boyne in the La Jolla Handicap on Sunday and Tatters to Riches in an allowance Saturday have put trainer Jeff Mullins in position to have top contenders in turf and dirt stakes races for 3-year-olds at the end of the Del Mar meet.
Turf specialist River Boyne won for the fifth time in his last six starts when capturing the Grade 3 La Jolla, which is a prep for the Grade 2, $250,000 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 2.
“That seems like the logical spot,” Mullins said at his barn Monday morning. “It’s hard to believe the La Jolla was his first graded stakes win.”
River Boyne, bred in Ireland, arrived in this country a maiden. He graduated Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, won a first-level allowance, and knocked off a pair of listed stakes, the Pasadena and Rainbow. His only loss during that skein was a third-place finish on bottomless ground in the Grade 2 American Turf on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs.
“It was raining in the middle of the night, and when I woke up and saw it was still raining I knew we were doomed,” Mullins said.
Tatters to Riches, a $1 million buy as a 2-year-old, returned from a layoff of nearly 11 months to win a first-level allowance against older runners going 6 1/2 furlongs. The rail draw concerned Mullins.
“It all worked out,” Mullins said. “I was a little frustrated with the draw. But we had to do it. We thought about scratching, but we needed to get a race in him.”
Mullins said the $100,000 Shared Belief at one mile Aug. 25 was “a possibility.”
“He’ll like more ground for sure,” Mullins said.
Accelerate has sharp work
Accelerate, the ante-post favorite for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 18, looked sharp Sunday with a six-furlong work in 1:12.20 that was the best of the morning by more than one second.
“Very good,” said John Sadler, who trains Accelerate. “He went 1:12 and change and the next eighth in 12. Hello. That’s 1:24 and change. We’re in good shape. He went really, really well. The track’s been slow all week.”
Juan Leyva, the former jockey who is Sadler’s assistant, was up for the work.
Other Pacific Classic contenders who worked Sunday included Beach View (four furlongs, 50.80 seconds) and The Lieutenant (five furlongs, 1:00.80).