United likely to stay on turf

DEL MAR, Calif. – United is likely to stay on grass, after all.

A day after United’s third straight Grade 2 turf victory on Sunday at Del Mar, trainer Richard Mandella walked back the idea of switching him to dirt for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Aug. 22.

“When I said that, I was thinking it was still a million dollars,” Mandella said Monday. “I don’t mean to snivel at $500,000, but I don’t know that I want to take him out of his game plan for that. Game plan meaning the Breeders’ Cup Turf.”

United won the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes on Sunday, after which Mandella announced plans to start the gelding on dirt in the Pacific Classic. United has never raced on dirt, but impressive dirt workouts gave Mandella reason to believe he would handle the switch.

However, Mandella was unaware that Del Mar announced in May that the Pacific Classic purse had been cut from $1 million to $500,000. After weighing risk and reward, Mandella walked back the dirt idea.

“When I said that, I didn’t know that the Pacific Classic [purse] had been dropped,” he said.

United is 5 for 12 on turf and finished second by a head in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita. The BC Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland remains the ultimate objective.

United has won three successive Grade 2’s on turf. If he stays home, United could run Aug. 22 on turf in the Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Handicap. Mandella said United also will be considered for a rich race in New York. The Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer, scheduled for Aug. 29 at Saratoga, could fit the bill.

Mandella’s change of heart means jockey Flavien Prat does not need to choose between United and Higher Power, the 2019 Pacific Classic winner he rode to a third-place finish Saturday in the San Diego Handicap. Higher Power is expected to face San Diego winner Maximum Security in the Pacific Classic.

– Brad Free

Laura’s Light will go longer

In her seven-race career, Laura’s Light has won four stakes on turf at distances ranging from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles.

She won her second stakes at a mile as the favorite in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday.

To pad her record this summer, Laura’s Light’s stamina will be tested in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Aug. 22. Laura’s Light won at the distance in the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes on May 30 at Santa Anita, leading by a length at the eighth pole and holding on by a neck.

That race left trainer Peter Miller thinking Laura’s Light might be better at a mile than 1 1/8 miles, a theory that will be tested in the $250,000 Del Mar Oaks.

“We’re going to find out,” Miller said.

Owned by Gary Barber, Laura’s Light chased a quick pace set by Cheermeister before taking the lead in early stretch of the San Clemente. She won by three-quarters of a length over Guitty and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 85.

“The pace was hot, and she kept rolling,” Miller said. “The pace is a lot softer at a mile and an eighth.”

The Del Mar Oaks, the leading race of Del Mar’s summer meeting for 3-year-old fillies, will include runners that finished behind Laura’s Light in the San Clemente. The race typically draws fillies from other parts of the United States and possibly Europe. Three of the last five winners of the Del Mar Oaks were from stables based outside of California.

Miller has won or tied for first in the trainers’ standing at three summer meetings at Del Mar, most recently in 2018. Through Saturday, Miller led all trainers with seven wins, three more than Richard

Baltas.

“You can never expect to win this many,” Miller said. “We thought we’d do well. We’ve exceded our expectations a little bit. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

The season concludes Sept. 7. Miller has a majority of his stable at Del Mar, with 12 horses based at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Next weekend, Miller intends to have starters in two $100,000 stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs for California-bred 2-year-olds – Saturday’s California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes for fillies and Sunday’s Graduation Stakes.

Aside from Laura’s Light, Miller has plans for graded stakes runners in late August. Mo Forza, winner of three turf stakes for 3-year-olds last fall and winter, is expected to start in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 23 along with The Black Album, a multiple stakes winner that Miller said recently arrived at his stable.

The Black Album, co-owned by Team Valor International and Barber and previously trained by Rodolphe Brisset, won the Jonathan Schuster Memorial Stakes on July 8 at Indiana Grand in his 2020 debut.

C Z Rocket, who was claimed for $40,000 in April and has since won three consecutive starts, is a candidate for the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on Aug. 29. Owned by Tom Kagele, C Z Rocket won an allowance race with a $150,000 claiming option at Keeneland at 6 1/2 furlongs in track-record time of 1:15 on July 12.

– Steve Andersen

Clement Hirsch contenders drill

The top older females Ce Ce, Fighting Mad, and Hard Not to Love all worked Sunday morning at Del Mar in preparation for the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch one week later.

The race is of particular meaning for the connections of Ce Ce, who is owned by Bo Hirsch, the son of the race’s late namesake. Ce Ce, best known for winning the Apple Blossom earlier this year, worked five furlongs in 1:01 under exercise rider Lidio Barrientos and then had a long, powerful gallop-out.

“I think that was pretty good,” her trainer, Michael McCarthy, said as she came to a stop following the drill. McCarthy had Ce Ce galloping out seven furlongs in 1:26.40.

Fighting Mad, trained by Bob Baffert, flew through five furlongs in 59.40 seconds, while Hard Not to Love went five furlongs in 1:01.20 for trainer John Shirreffs.

Pick six pays $173,912

A pick six payoff of $173,912 on Sunday at Del Mar was hit by a bettor who put $29,652 into the wager, with the winning combination purchased on an $8 base play instead of the minimum $2 base play for the pick six.

As a result of the winning ticket being purchased at an $8 base, there were four winning combinations. But owing to California Horse Racing Board rules, which treat multiple winners from the same original paper ticket – or with the same serial number, if purchased electronically – as a single ticket, the $8 ticket was treated as though it was the only winning ticket, thus triggering the single-ticket jackpot pool as well as the regular pool.

The change in wagering rules to allow multiple winning tickets to be treated as a single ticket if all the bets were processed on the same original ticket came because of concerns that bettors who had scratched into a favorite and ended up with the same horse twice, or had two winners owing to a dead heat, were being prevented from taking down a single-ticket jackpot.

Sunday’s winning ticket was played via Hunt Valley, Md., according to a press release from Del Mar.

– Jay Privman