Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Bellafina works for Debutante
DEL MAR, Calif. – Bellafina, the winner of the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 5, worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Del Mar on Friday in advance of her Grade 1 debut in the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 1.
Bellafina’s time was the fastest of 61 works at the distance Friday.
“I liked the way she galloped out,” trainer Simon Callaghan said. “We’re going into it with two races under our belt. She got a good foundation from the Sorrento.”
Fitting for the championship race of the summer meeting for 2-year-old fillies, the sevenfurlong Debutante is expected to have a strong field. Aside from Bellafina, the leading candidate is Brill, the winner of a maiden special weight race on July 18.
The maiden winners Mother Mother and Boujie Girl, who was third in the Sorrento, are expected to run. Bob Baffert trains Mother Mother and said on Friday that the maiden winners Chasing Yesterday and Der Lu also could run in the Debutante. He said a decision on their status will be made at the beginning of the week.
On Friday, Chasing Yesterday and Der Lu worked six furlongs from the gate in 1:13.
Brill is trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, who has the favorite for the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 3 with Instagrand, the easy winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 11. Hollendorfer said on Friday that he is considering also starting Rowayton in the Futurity. Rowayton won a maiden special weight race on July 22. Instagrand and Rowayton are owned by Larry Best’s OXO Equine.
Sparky Ville, second in the Best Pal, is expected to start in the Del Mar Futurity, which is run at seven furlongs. Other candidates are Roadster, Savagery, Sigalert, and Spin Lightning.
The Del Mar summer meeting ends on Sept. 3, followed by the start of the 12-day Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos on Sept. 6.
Options for Ransom the Moon
The desire to have just one more race between now and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint is what kept Ransom the Moon out of the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien on Saturday at Del Mar. Now, the focus will be on whether to go in the De Francis Dash at Laurel on Sept. 15 or the Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 6.
Trainer Phil D’Amato on Friday morning was giving serious consideration to the De Francis, as the timing would be a nice bridge between the Grade 1 Bing Crosby, which Ransom the Moon won on July 28, and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, to be run at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
The Bing Crosby, De Francis, Santa Anita Sprint Championship, and Breeders’ Cup Sprint all are at six furlongs. The Pat O’Brien is at seven furlongs.
“If I run in the race, I could sit on him for 10 weeks until the Breeders’ Cup, or try to squeeze in another race,” D’Amato said of the O’Brien. “I think that’s what got me in trouble last year. We tried to fit in too many races going into the Breeders’ Cup. I didn’t have a fresh horse.”
Ransom the Moon was fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, run at Del Mar. He had won the Bing Crosby here earlier that summer.
D’Amato said that if he runs in the De Francis, he might be inclined to send Ransom the Moon straight to Churchill Downs to train there right into the Breeders’ Cup.
Strong handle figures
All-sources handle at the Del Mar summer meeting has shown a healthy gain over the corresponding meeting in 2017 and has allowed the racetrack to reduce a significant deficit in its purse account, a track official said on Thursday.
But the deficit could take several years to eliminate and is the primary reason the track has been unable to increase purses, according to Mike Ernst, the track’s chief financial officer.
Ernst said the deficit “is still north of $1 million” but did not go into specifics.
Through Aug. 19, all-sources handle had increased 8.2 percent compared with 2017.
“We’ve recovered about 10 percent of the debt,” Ernst said. “We’ve made some progress.
“We want to keep purses up high and chip away at the deficit for five or 10 years. We’re trying to take a long-term view.”
In 2016, Del Mar cut purses in advance of the summer meeting because of the deficit and reduced purses for some races by 5 percent with two weeks remaining in the season because of lower-than-projected handle. In subsequent years, handle has rebounded.
This summer, field size has increased at Del Mar. Through Thursday, fields have averaged 8.69 runners per race compared with 8.43 runners through a similar time last year. The entire 2017 summer meeting averaged 8.58 runners.
Field sizes are typically strong in the final week of the season as the track emphasizes turf racing and owners and trainers seek to give horses a final start before racing shifts to Los Alamitos, which does not have a turf course.
The meeting concludes on Sept. 3.