Sadler off to hot start in stakes

DEL MAR, Calif. – It’s been feast or feast this summer at Del Mar for trainer John Sadler.

He’s won five races, all stakes, including a sweep of the Grade 1 races last weekend, with Cistron in the Bing Crosby and Ollie’s Candy in the Clement Hirsch. Those five stakes wins have propelled Sadler into fourth on the all-time stakes win list here among trainers with 72, behind only Bob Baffert (128), Ron McAnally (77), and the late Charlie Whittingham (74), all of whom are in the Hall of Fame.

Sadler will try to add to that total on Sunday and move within one of Whittingham. He has decided to wheel back Jasikan, winner of the openingday Oceanside, in the Grade 3, $150,000 La Jolla Handicap for 3-year-olds following a halfmile turf workout on Sunday in 50.40 seconds.

“Really liked the way he went on the grass, so, yes, he’s running,” Sadler said.

Jasikan, who will be ridden by Flavien Prat, was assigned 122 pounds, two fewer than Neptune’s Storm. Besides those two, others expected for the 1 1/16-mile grass race are Golden Birthday, Gregorian Chant, King of Speed, Proud Pedro, Stubbins, and possibly Gray Magician, who was supplemented for $1,500.

Espinoza closing in on Stevens

Victor Espinoza teamed with Sadler to win the Bing Crosby with Cistron, which gave Espinoza 98 stakes wins at Del Mar, fourth on the all-time jockeys’ list here and only two back of third-place Gary Stevens.

Many of those wins have been in concert with Sadler, who praised Espinoza for returning after suffering serious neck and spinal injuries in a training accident here last summer.

“Great that he’s back. I think we all know now the injury last year was a lot worse than everybody first knew,” Sadler said. “For him to come back is pretty amazing.

“He’s always been a great ambassador for the sport, like during the Triple Crown with American Pharoah. He puts a good face on racing.”

Omaha Beach works

Omaha Beach, now in a regular work pattern as he seeks to get back into action, went a half-mile in 49.20 seconds on Monday morning at Del Mar while in company for trainer Richard Mandella.

“Didn’t let him do too much. Second work, first half, but he went really nice,” said Mandella.

As with his first work last week, former jockey Alex Solis was aboard.

Omaha Beach has not raced since winning the Arkansas Derby. He was the morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, but was withdrawn because of an entrapped epiglottis, which was surgically repaired.

Assistant starter being tested

Assistant starter Hector Ramirez was reportedly undergoing tests on Monday at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla following a scary incident Sunday in which Ramirez collapsed right after race 6 and was revived by paramedics and EMTs, a fellow assistant starter, and two members of the track’s grounds crew.

Ramirez collapsed in the chute on the turf course and was immediately tended to by another assistant starter, Gilberto Cardenas, according to head starter Jay Slender. Two members of the grounds crew, Arturo Moreno and Ignacio Banuelos, also immediately jumped in, according to Luis Jauregui, the safety steward of the California Horse Racing Board.

Soon thereafter, two paramedics – Blaine Nelson and Ken Glimme – and two EMTs – Luke Biggs and Cole Michael – arrived, according to Kim Jacobson, the risk manager at Del Mar, who employs the paramedics and EMTs.

“He was dead,” Slender said. “They saved his life.”

Jacobson said that medical coordinator Mike Mejia assisted, too.

Sorrento looking strong

Amalfi Sunrise, who got a Beyer Speed Figure of 88 in a debut win at Santa Anita on June 23, and Comical, winner of the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga on July 11, are the marquee names expected for the Grade 2, $200,000 Sorrento for 2-year-old fillies Saturday.

The Sorrento is a prep for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31. That race is the next stop for Immediate Impact, the Baffert-trained half-sister to Arrogate who was a runaway winner of her debut on Sunday.

“We thought she could do something like that. She had been working well. She was no secret,” Baffert said. “She’ll go farther, but she’s a lot quicker than her brother.”

Baffert filly euthanized

Bowl of Soul, a 3-year-old filly trained by Bob Baffert, “sustained an injury to her right hind fetlock while training Monday morning at Del Mar, necessitating euthanasia,” the California Horse Racing Board confirmed in a statement Monday.

Bowl of Soul was in the midst of a workout with Joe Talamo when she was pulled up at the eighth pole. She had a maiden win and a second-place finish in an allowance race in her two starts earlier this year at Santa Anita.

Two other horses died at Del Mar on July 18 in a freak, headon collusion during training hours.