Balnikhov takes feature on eventful opening day
Irish-bred horse wins Oceanside Stakes as Del Mar meet commences
DEL MAR >> Full fields, the return of track announcer Trevor Denman and Oceanside Stakes winner Balnikhov highlighted opening day of Del Mar’s 83rd summer race meet Friday.
The 31-day meet’s opener included 124 horses for the 10 races, something Southern California racing fans haven’t seen in quite a while. And full fields are the order of the day for today and Sunday as well. Sunday’s card, originally scheduled to include 10 races, is now an 11race program because of an overflow of entries.
“I had an inkling there was more anticipation for the beginning of this meet,” Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens said. “You just hope that the momentum carries you as we get into the middle portion of the meet.”
Twenty-seven of the 32 races on opening weekend had double-digit entries.
The 68-year-old Denman,
who lives with his wife Robin in Minnesota, was forced to miss last fall’s Del Mar meet and the Breeders’ Cup after he slipped on some icy steps at home, fell and injured his back. He missed both Del Mar meets in 2020 when he opted to stay home because of COVID-19.
“The injury before the fall meet was so unexpected,” said Denman, who took over at Del Mar for the legendary Harry Henson in 1984. “I fell heavily and could not walk unaided for two weeks. It was a nerve pain so it was excruciating. After two weeks it healed daily.”
Balnikhov, an Irish-bred son of Adaay trained by Philip D’Amato, staged a furious rally in the stretch under Umberto Rispoli and won for the first time in four U.S. starts. Sent off as the 3-1 second choice in the $100,000 turf race for 3-year-olds, Balnikhov won by 1½ lengths. Even-money favorite Mackinnon finished fourth, never seriously threatening in the stretch.
Next to last in the 13-horse field after the first half-mile, Balnikhov had moved into fourth by the top of the stretch and zoomed past longshots Anmer Hall (29-1) and Barsabas (55-1) in the final sixteenth of a mile to score his fourth victory in 12 starts and raise his earnings to $238,905 while running the mile in 1:34.85.
“That was an amazing trip,” Rispoli said. “I was all the way on the outside on the backstretch so I said, ‘I think I’m losing too much ground here,’ and I went down inside. From there it happened. I love this race (Oceanside). In the three years I’ve ridden it, I’ve won it twice and been second. I’ve got a new baby in the family. I’m a blessed man.”
D’Amato, who won last fall’s Del Mar training title after finishing fourth during the summer, said Rispoli fits the winner like a glove.
“You know we got pace in the race, sat a good trip and was able to use his turn of foot late and got the job done,” he said. “Just get him to settle, save ground and then come with his run. I think that’s the key to this horse.”
Asked what is next for Balnikhov, D’Amato said he has two races in mind.
“Probably wait until the Del Mar Derby (Sept. 3), but we could possibly go in the La Jolla (Aug. 7),” he said. “We’ll just have to play it by ear and see how he comes out of the race.”
Juan Hernandez, who won last fall’s Del Mar riding title 17-14 over Flavien Prat after finishing second (47-32) behind Prat during the summer meet, scored a riding triple Friday with victories aboard Breakfast Ride (5-2) in the opener, Uncontrollable (9-2) in the fifth and Kid Corleone (7-1) in the ninth.
Opening-day attendance was 21,680. Del Mar capped attendance for the second consecutive year after doing so last summer when protocols were put in place to combat the pandemic. Del Mar’s record opening-day attendance is 47,339 set in 2012, long before the general populace knew anything about social distancing.