Smith enters earnings season

DEL MAR, Calif. – Summer vacation ended for jockey Mike Smith with the start of the Del Mar meeting Wednesday.

The Hall of Famer won Wednesday on Shivermetimbers, his first mount in more than two weeks. He did not have another mount scheduled until Friday.

“I’ve been gone so long that I didn’t have much business,” Smith said in the stables Thursday.

Smith, who turns 53 on Aug. 10, won the Belmont Stakes on Justify on June 9 to secure the 13th Triple Crown in history. For the rest of June, Smith rode mostly on weekends. He rode Midnight Bisou to a win in the Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park on June 30 and did not ride again until Wednesday.

On Sunday, Smith will be at Saratoga to ride Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks before returning to Del Mar for Wednesday’s program. Smith said he welcomed the vacation, which included a day in his honor at Ruidoso Downs. At the same time, Smith said he is happy to return to his racing routine.

“It’s been nice, but I’m ready to get back to work,” he said. “The Breeders’ Cup is closer than you think.”

The Breeders’ Cup races are Nov. 2-3 at Churchill Downs. There will be a prep race for the series nearly every weekend through early October. Smith is booked to ride American Anthem in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs next Saturday at Del Mar, a race expected to draw Roy H, the champion sprinter of 2017. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint on Nov. 3.

Next Sunday at Del Mar, Smith rides Unique Bella in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares. Unique Bella was the champion female sprinter of 2017. The winner of that race will hold a berth in the BC Distaff on Nov. 3.

Axelrod targets Travers Stakes

Axelrod, winner of the Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand on July 14, is scheduled to have his Grade 1 debut in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

Trainer Michael McCarthy said Friday that the purse and distance of the Travers Stakes make it an appealing race for Axelrod, who races for Slam Dunk Racing.

“He was surging the other day,” McCarthy said of the Indiana Derby. “It will be a new dimension if we choose that.”

Axelrod has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $360,925. The winner of a $50,000 claimer for maidens at Del Mar last summer, Axelrod closed from eighth in a field of nine to win the $500,000 Indiana Derby by a head over Trigger Warning.

“I thought he would run well,” McCarthy said. “He’s an improving horse.”

Moonshine Memories to Spa

Moonshine Memories, a twotime Grade 1 winner in 2017, on Thursday won for the first time in three starts this year, taking an allowance race for 3-yearold fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar.

The win confirmed plans to send her to Saratoga for the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes on Sept. 3. The $250,000 Prioress is run at six furlongs, a distance Moonshine Memories may prefer at this stage of her career, trainer Simon Callaghan said.

“I think six furlongs might be better for her than 6 1/2,” he said. “The way she is, she’s definitely more of a sprinter.”

Moonshine Memories ($3) was fully extended to win Thursday. She faced early pressure from Show It N Moe It on the backstretch and from Steph Being Steph in the stretch before winning by a head under jockey Flavien Prat.

Last year, Moonshine Memories won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs and the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita before finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.

Baffert high on Mother Mother

The filly Mother Mother could provide Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert with his first 2-year-old winner of the Del Mar summer meet when she debuts in a maiden special weight race at six furlongs Sunday.

By Pioneerof the Nile, Mother Mother has caught Baffert’s attention in training at Santa Anita and Del Mar in the last month. Baffert said Friday that he held Mother Mother out of a five-furlong maiden race on Wednesday to avoid the highly regarded Brill, who won as the favorite.

“I was going to run her the other day, but I didn’t want to run against Brill,” he said. “There are some nice 2-yearolds in California.”

Mother Mother will be ridden by Drayden Van Dyke and starts from post 3 in a field of eight.

“I wish I’d drawn the outside,” Baffert said. “We want a big W. We want a nice race. Threequarters is a little demanding.”

Tapwater, a Tapit filly, will start from the outside post for trainer Richard Mandella, who said the distance may be too short for her.

“I think she’ll need a mile to do her best,” Mandella said.

Mandella expects Tapwater to be a factor in the stretch and thinks she might even win.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if she did,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she finished nicely.”