Baffert to scratch McKinzie from Crosby, point to O’Brien

DEL MAR, Calif. – The best horse and presumptive favorite in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar will scratch from the sixfurlong race and wait for the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs later this summer.

McKinzie, whose seven graded stakes and $3.4 million in earnings tops the 10-entrant Bing Crosby field, will scratch from the $250,000 sprint, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday.

“If I had an outside post, I was going to take a chance at it,” Baffert said. “But he’s down in the four-hole, and this track’s been playing weird. It’s real loose and deep. A horse like him wouldn’t have a chance.”

McKinzie would have been running shorter than seven furlongs for the first time. Instead, he will wait for the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien on Aug. 29. McKinzie is 3 for 3 at seven furlongs – maiden, Grade 1 Malibu, and Grade 2 Triple Bend.

Although the Pat O’Brien is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Baffert said the goal is a mile and one-quarter. “The Breeders’ Cup Classic is the objective,” Baffert said. McKinzie finished second in the 2019 BC Classic at Santa Anita.

The defection of McKinzie from the Bing Crosby leaves a field of nine. Leading contenders include the 3-year-old graded stakes winner Collusion Illusion, graded stakes-winning turf sprinter Wildman Jack, Lexitonian, Fashionably Fast, and Law Abidin Citizen. The Bing Crosby, a Win and You’re In for the BC Sprint, is race 10 of 11 on Saturday.

– Brad Free

Dogtag to dirt for Hirsch

Dogtag, a 4-year-old stakeswinning filly on turf, will have her stakes debut on the main track in Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement

Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar.

Dogtag has won her last two starts, both on turf at Santa Anita – a second-level allowance race at a mile on May 16 and the Possibly Perfect Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on June 14. A winner of 4 of 9 starts, Dogtag was third in her only previous appearance on dirt in a sevenfurlong maiden race at Saratoga in August 2018 when trained by Chad Brown.

Owned by Larry, Nancy, and Jaime Roth’s LNJ Foxwoods Stable, Dogtag joined current trainer Richard Mandella in California last winter.

“She’s always trained well on the dirt,” Mandella said. “I’ve worked her with horses and she’s had dirt in her face.

“I know it’s a tough race. She’s as good as she’ll ever be. I think it’s a good time to try it.”

Mandella said Umberto Rispoli will have the mount. Through Monday, Rispoli led all riders with 13 wins, two more than Flavien Prat.

The $250,000 Hirsch Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles and is led by three Grade 1 winners – Ce Ce, Hard Not to Love, and Ollie’s Candy – as well as Fighting Mad, the winner of the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita on May 31. Hard Not to Love and Ce Ce were second and third in the Santa Maria.

Ollie’s Candy, who won the 2019 Clement Hirsch, was third in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park on June 13.

The winner of the Clement Hirsch Stakes receives a feespaid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

Hit the Road to miss La Jolla

Hit the Road, the winner of the $103,500 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar on July 10, will miss the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 9, but remains a candidate for the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6.

Trainer Dan Blacker said on Wednesday that Hit the Road emerged from the Oceanside with a bruised foot that prevented full training in recent days.

“He needed to work last weekend,” Blacker said. “He won’t be ready to run in the La Jolla. We’ll give him a little more time to the Del Mar Derby.”

The $200,000 Del Mar Derby is run at 1 1/8 miles on turf, which will be a stamina test for Hit the Road.

“I think my gut feeling is he’s best at a mile,” Blacker said. “He should get a mile and an eighth, especially at Del Mar with the way the turf course is. The turf course is very firm.”

Hit the Road has won 4 of 7 starts and earned $194,751 for the partnership of DK Racing, Radley Equine, Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, and David Odmark.

Wednesday, Hit the Road jogged at Del Mar, Blacker said. The $125,000 La Jolla Handicap is run at 1 1/16 miles on turf for 3-year-olds.

“We’ve got to give him a little more time to be 100 percent,” Blacker said.

– Steve Andersen

BENOIT PHOTO McKinzie will still be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, where he finished second last year.