Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Pharoah full brother in debut
DEL MAR, Calif. – St. Patrick’s Day will be the center of attention in a maiden race for 2-year-olds Sunday at Del Mar. Having an older brother named American Pharoah tends to leave a colt firmly in the spotlight.
Owned by Susan Magnier and trained by Bob Baffert, who guided American Pharoah to the 2015 Triple Crown, St. Patrick’s Day has worked well for his debut in the ninth race, run at six furlongs.
Baffert took a cautious approach to his expectations at his stable Friday, but there are signs the colt has ample ability.
“He’s been working well, and I expect him to run well,” Baffert said. “He was working with Soul Streit and working heads up.”
Soul Streit, trained by Baffert, was an impressive winner of his debut by 5 3/4 lengths in a five-furlong maiden race here Aug. 13. On the same morning, St. Patrick’s Day worked six furlongs in 1:12 from the gate, the fastest of 12 recorded works at the distance.
St. Patrick’s Day (by Pioneerof the Nile out of Littleprincessemma) is part of a field of 10 and may not go favored. Jungle Warfare, a game second to the well-regarded Tatters to Riches in a maiden race July 29, will have his second start of the meeting for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
Baffert also starts Zatter, a colt by Midnight Lute who drew the outside. Zatter worked in company with St. Patrick’s Day on Aug. 13 and also was timed in 1:12 from the gate for six furlongs.
Skye Diamonds gets break
Skye Diamonds, the dominant female sprinter in California this year, will not race again until Nov. 4 at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, a race in which she figures to be a leading candidate.
Skye Diamonds won the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos in July and the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap on Aug. 13 at Del Mar. Trainer Bill Spawr said earlier this week that he would prefer to give Skye Diamonds a lengthy break between starts as opposed to adding a race at Santa Anita in October.
“She’ll do well off that,” Spawr said of the break. “When we’ve given her six weeks between races, she’s done well. She’s so professional.”
Skye Diamonds, a 4-year-old filly by First Dude, has won 9 of 16 starts and earned $509,150. She has won 6 of 8 starts since being claimed for $40,000 last August, a span that includes the Dream of Summer Stakes for California-breds at a mile on dirt at Santa Anita in late March.
Since being claimed, Skye Diamonds has earned $389,100 for owners Tom Acker, Allen Racing, Bloom Racing, and Jon Lindo.
This year, Skye Diamonds is unbeaten in four starts at 6 1/2 furlongs. The BC Filly and Mare Sprint is at seven furlongs.
“It’s a perfect distance, and she does well on this track,” Spawr said.
Milestone day for three trainers
There were milestones for trainers Andrew Lerner, Mark Tsalagalakis, and Reed Saldana during Thursday’s program at Del Mar.
They all won for the first time at the track.
For Lerner, Be a Lady’s win in the first race was his first career win six months after he began training. Tsagalakis, who has a very small number of horses in training, won the third race with Arch of Troy. He first began training in the 1980s.
Saldana won an optional claimer in the seventh race with Cuddle Alert on the one-year anniversary of the day she was claimed for $10,000. This year alone, Cuddle Alert has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $178,773.
Lerner, 28, has six horses in training but no longer has Be a Lady, who was claimed for $12,500. Lerner has a background in commercial real estate and web design and is the co-owner of a staffing and recruiting company based in Santa Monica.
Lerner, who previously owned horses in partnership, worked for trainer Mike Pender for more than a year before he began training. Lerner said Friday he hopes to build his stable to 15 to 20 runners by the end of 2018.
Be a Lady’s win did not surprise him, but her winning price of $29.40 was higher than he expected.
“I didn’t think she was a 13-1 shot,” he said. “That’s okay. I’ve got to earn respect.”
Tsagalakis, 54, had his first winner of the year with Arch of Troy, his fourth starter. Tsalagakis splits his time between California and Lexington, Ky., where his family has a full-service farm acquired a few years ago.
Tsagalakis’s tiny stable has never had more than 22 runners a year since the early 1990s, which reduces his chances for a win at a tough meeting such as Del Mar’s.
“After all these years, I never could win one,” Tsagalakis said Friday. “It’s been a long time in the making. It was a cool day.”
Saldana, 36, rode in Arizona, California, and New York until 2009.
“I was too heavy and I wasn’t very good,” he said.
In partnership with Leopoldo Urbina, Saldana claimed Cuddle Alert last year. The mare was trained by Reed’s wife, Melissa, until earlier this year. Reed Saldana had his first win at Santa Anita in June.
He claimed two horses Thursday at Del Mar to bring his stable to eight runners.
Cuddle Alert won the Spring Fever Handicap at Santa Anita in February and will be considered for stakes at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita in coming months, Reed Saldana said.