Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Drysdale pair offers promise
DEL MAR, Calf. – Wednesday was an eventful afternoon for trainer Neil Drysdale’s stable.
Around noon, the 5-yearold horse Cashman arrived at Del Mar from a quarantine facility in Los Angeles. Cashman, a minor stakes winner in Germany last month, will have his American debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, Drysdale won his first stakes of the Del Mar summer meeting when Vexatious (5-2) stormed past 1-2 favorite Queen Blossom in the final furlong to win her first stakes in the $75,754 CTT and TOC Stakes for fillies and mares.
The win left Drysdale hopeful Vexatious can develop into a contender for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3. The CTT and TOC Stakes was run at 1 3/8 miles, the same distance as the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Vexatious closed from last in a field of four, with a wide rally in the stretch.
“She wasn’t even blowing,” Drysdale said. “They just galloped around there.”
Owned by Calumet Farm, Vexatious has won 2 of 11 starts and earned $232,225. Drysdale said he would like to give Vexatious as many as two additional starts before the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
One option is the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Sept. 29. The winner of the $300,000 Rodeo Drive receives a fees-paid berth for the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
Last year, Vexatious raced primarily on dirt, finishing third in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn before a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks.
“She was knocking on the door the whole time,” Drysdale said.
Drysdale said he has wanted to try Vexatious in longer turf races for some time.
“I felt all of last year she was a mile-and-a-half horse,” Drysdale said.
Vexatious, by Giant’s Causeway, is out of Dream of Summer, the millionaire six-time stakes winner who has produced two graded stakes winners – Creative Cause, who earned $1,039,000 and was third in the 2012 Preakness Stakes, and Destin, who won the Grade 2 Marathon Stakes at Del Mar last November and earned $947,800.
Cashman, who races for the Team Valor International partnership, has won 4 of 18 starts, all in France and Germany. By Soldier of Fortune, Cashman was third in a Group 3 race in Dortmund, Germany, on June 24. On July 14, Cashman won a turf stakes at 1 3/16 miles at Dresden, Germany.
Cashman arrived in the United States on Monday and had his first exercise on the Del Mar main track on Thursday. Saturday, Cashman will carry 117 pounds in the Del Mar Handicap, six fewer than topweight Itsinthepost, who has won seven Grade 2 stakes in the last 17 months but was ninth in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes here last month.
From Drysdale’s perspective, the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap is worth a try with Cashman.
“I think the distance grass horses are weak,” he said.
Drysdale has runners in two of the three stakes on Saturday’s 11-race program. In the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks, he starts Californiagoldrush, who is unbeaten in two starts but has not raced since February.
Collected gets back to work
Collected, the winner of the 2017 Pacific Classic, worked three furlongs in 37.20 seconds at Del Mar on Thursday, his first workout in nearly seven months.
Collected, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last November, has not raced since finishing seventh in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January. Trained by Bob Baffert for Speedway Stable, Collected is expected to resume racing this fall. He was rested through the spring and early summer.
A 5-year-old, Collected has won 8 of 14 starts and earned $2,966,500.
Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds at Del Mar on Thursday, the fastest of 51 works at the distance. Trained by Peter Miller, Roy H was second in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 28. He is likely to start in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs on Oct. 6.
Bellocq to accept Pincay Award
Martine Bellocq, who suffered severe burns in the wildfire that struck the San Luis Rey Downs training center last December, will be honored between races at Del Mar on Saturday with the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award.
The annual award is presented for meritorious service and dedication to racing, and is named in honor of the legendary Hall of Fame rider. Pincay is scheduled to present the award.
Bellocq sustained burns over much of her body while attempting to save horses in the fire, and later underwent several surgeries. She later lost a foot because of circulation complications. Bellocq, 64, is scheduled to be joined by friends and family in the winner’s circle ceremony.
Mandatory pick six payout
There is a mandatory payout in the $2 pick six at Del Mar on Saturday, although there will be no more than a two-day carryover because the bet paid off to a single-ticket winner on Wednesday.
The pick six will be held on races 6-11, which includes the day’s three graded stakes – the Del Mar Handicap (race 6), Del Mar Oaks (race 8), and Pacific Classic (race 10).
Through the first 21 days of the meeting, the pick six has been hit by a single ticket six times.
The pick six also will be disbursed on closing day, Sept. 3.