Photo finish goes Beau Recall’s way for a change
Mare outsprints Vasilika, denying Hollendorfer a victory in return to racing at Del Mar.
DEL MAR — As gregarious as Slam Dunk Racing’s Nick Casato can be, he is a horse racing pragmatist.
That is especially true when he’s watching his beloved 5-year-old, Beau Recall. The mare has been on the short end of more than her share of close finishes in 24 career starts — six runners-up to go with seven wins.
When she and jockey Drayden Van Dyke got into a bobbing contest with Rafael Bejarano and Storm The Hill at the wire in Saturday’s Grade II $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar, Casato feared for the worst.
“My son was going crazy. He thought we lost the photo,” said Casato, the coowner of Beau Recall. “We’re contrarians, even though the smidgen says I think we won it.”
Tortured by a minuteslong stewards’ examination of the photo, which confirmed Beau Recall’s victory, and then an objection for interference by last-place rider Mario Gutierrez, Casato’s pessimism turned to outright joy when track announcer Trevor Denman announced no changes would be made to the order of finish.
Beau Recall ($6.00) came out on the good end of a scintillating finish to capture the third graded stakes victory of her career. In the process, she outsprinted Vasilika, who charged too late and finished third in losing for only the third time in her last 15 starts.
Vasilika’s trainer and part-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer, took the defeat in his first start since a court-ordered return to racing following a ban by Del Mar at the outset of the meet.
Beau Recall lost the 2017 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita by a neck and the Del Mark Oaks by a nose. She won the Grade II Royal Heroine in Arcadia in April 2018, but after six straight defeats in Southern California, Slam Dunk and Medallion Racing moved her east.
In the last eight months, she won twice at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and captured the Grade II Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
“She’s tiny, but she tries every single race,” Casato said. “She’s got a heart of gold. She’s special, man.”
Etc.
Amalfi Sunrise will draw more comparisons to the talented filly Bellafina after her dominating victory in the Grade II $200,000 Sorrento Stakes.As the 3-5 favorite in the dirt race over six furlongs, the Simon Callahantrained 2-year-old filly and jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. powered to a six-length win over Powerfulattraction. Amalfi Sunrise ($3.40) has won both races of her career by a combined 121⁄4 lengths.
On Saturday, the 43year-old Arroyo was assessed a 10-day suspension by the Del Mar stewards for causing interference in Friday’s Graduation Stakes, leading to his horse being dropped from first to third.The latest punishment brings Arroyo’s suspension days to 21, though he has yet to serve any of them because of appeals. He was given a four-day suspension July 19 and a seven-day suspension July 25 — both for causing interference. Mike Ciani, Arroyo’s agent, told the Daily Racing Form that Arroyo will ask for a court stay for the latest infraction so that he can continue riding until his appeal is heard.