DEL MAR LEADERS
Through Thursday JOCKEYS / WINS
Flavien Prat 21 Abel Cedillo 12 Juan Hernandez 11 Umberto Rispoli 10 Kyle Frey 8 TRAINERS / WINS
Peter Miller 10 Bob Baffert 5 Mark Glatt 5 Three tied 4 WEEKEND STAKES DEL MAR Today
• $200,000 Grade II Sorrento Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 6 furlongs Saturday
• $200,000Grade II Best Pal Stakes, 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs
• $200,000 Grade II Yellow Ribbon Handicap, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1 / miles (turf) Sunday
• $150,000 Grade III La Jolla Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 / miles (turf)
• $100,000Graduation Stakes, 2-year-olds bred in
CA, 5 / furlongs DOWN THE STRETCH
• Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II Best Pal Stakes, the major steppingstone to the closing-day Grade I Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 6, drew a field of seven, including 8-5 morningline favorite Pappacap for trainer Mark Casse. The Best Pal, a 6-furlong race for 2-year-olds, will go as the ninth of 11 races. The card also includes the $200,000 Grade II Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares on the grass. Pappacap will be ridden by Joe Bravo. The Gun Runner colt’s biggest challenges figure to come from Bet On Mookie (5-2), Finneus (31), Thirsty Always (7-2) and Aquitania Arrival (4-1).
• Santa Anita announced Thursday that it will continue the “Ship And Win” program it began this past May, beginning with its fall meet that begins Friday, Oct. 1. Santa Anita management indicated it was encouraged by how the Ship and Win has helped spark success at the ongoing Del Mar meet.
“This program has proven to be a primary driver in our efforts to bring horses to California from all over the nation,” Chris Merz, Santa Anita’s director of racing and racing secretary, said in a statement. “We started to see some horses coming here in May and June, and Del Mar has done a tremendous job of recruiting.”
• A short but talented five-horse field is set for Saturday’s $1 million Grade I Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. Knicks Go was installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the 1 / -mile race over the main track, followed by Maxfield (8-5), the No. 1horse in the latest Breeders’ Cup Classic rankings. Last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, Swiss Skydiver (6-1), will try to beat her male rivals for the second time after last year’s Preakness Stakes upset over Horse of the Year Authentic. Rounding out the field are Silver State (4-1) and By My Standards (101). The race, scheduled to go postward at 2:48p.m., will be televised by Bally Sports SoCal.