Del Mar Daily Notebook

DEL MAR DAILY NOTEBOOK

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2005

by Brian P. Turner

The 2005 Del Mar meet is now in the books, but the Southern California

institution went out in style by offering three stakes on its 10-race closing

day card, highlighted by the Del Mar Futurity (G2). A field of 11 two-year-olds

went to the post for the seven-furlong event.

It appeared to be an extremely wide open affair but in the end proved to be

little more than a showcase for the Merv Griffin-owned STEVIE WONDERBOY (Stephen

Got Even). The chestnut had been spent the first two races of his career

crossing paths with the ill-fated What A Song and had come up on the short end

of the stick on both occasions. Once he got to Del Mar though, he was able to

finally break his maiden and did so in impressive fashion, providing a little

taste of what was to come in the Futurity.

When the field left the gate, Stevie Wonderboy dropped well back off the pace

early, content to let the front runners slug it out through opening fractions

that went in :21 4/5 and :44 1/5. Once the field reached the turn, the colt

began to pick up runners and did so by coming seven-wide. Stevie Wonderboy then

unleashed a tremendous turn of foot through the lane to engulf the front runners

and hit the finish line five widening lengths in front.

The place and show spots were each filled by runners who had each made their

previous start at Calder. The Pharaoh (Forest Camp) picked up the place, a

half-length in front of Jealous Profit (Trippi), who put in an extremely nice

effort considering he broke horribly from the gate, in third.

Also on Wednesday, a field of eight contested the six-furlong Pirate's Bounty

H. for three-year-olds and up going six furlongs over the main track. Trainer

Thomas Hunt made his first win on the year a stakes victory with INDIAN COUNTRY

(Indian Charlie), who rallied from next to last and closed with a nice burst of

speed through the stretch drive to take the victory by three parts of a length.

Favorite Areyoutalkintome (Smokester) had been near the pace early through

opening fractions of :21 2/5 and :44 then continued on gamely late to cross the

wire in second, 1 1/4 lengths clear of a fast-closing Smoocher (Kissin Kris) in

third.

Finally, a field of nine fillies and mares contested the CERF H. at six

furlongs. SIMPLY BECAUSE (Seattle Slew) bounded out of the gate and onto the

lead, guiding the field through relatively uncontested early fractions of :21

3/5 and :44 1/5. Once the bay hit the stretch, she had plenty left in the tank

and continued on through the lane to hit the finish line three lengths in front.

Abounding Truth (Proudest Romeo) put in a solid effort to pick up the place,

a neck in front of favorite Freakin Streakin (Tactical Advantage) in third.

Six sprints were contested on the main track today with horses on or near the

pace winning three and horses coming from off the pace winning three. The lone

route was won by a horse stalking the pace. As for the turf, there were two

routes with horses coming from off the pace winning both while the lone turf

sprint was won by a horse contesting the early lead.

As for the meet as a whole, horses on or near the lead dominated the main

track sprints at all distances except seven furlongs where horses coming from

off the pace held a slight advantage. The route races favored speed at eight

furlongs but played fair at longer distances.

The new GN-1 Bermuda turf course seemed to hold up well over the course of

the meet though it produced some extremely quick times and proved to be a bit

more speed-favoring than one might expect. At eight furlongs, closers definitely

had a solid advantage, but at 1 1/6 miles horses on or near the lead held the

edge. At distances of nine furlongs or greater, the Jimmy Durante Turf Course

tended to play pretty fair. As for the sprints, the advantage went to horses on

or near the lead.

Victor Espinoza booted home three winners on the card and that was enough to

give him the riding title with 53 wins for the meet. Garrett Gomez picked up a

win on the day to finish second with 50 and Patrick Valenzuela rode one today as

well to finish third with 42.

Trainer Jeff Mullins had two runners in today in the first two races on the

card. Both of them made it to the winner's circle, giving him a two-race

advantage early in the day, and that was all it took for him to earn the

training title for the meet. Bob Baffert had three total runners in two races

today and one of them made it to the winner's circle. The final score was 23 to

22. Stevie Wonderboy provided Doug O'Neill with his only winner on the

Wednesday, but it was a big one. He finished third for the meet with 19 winners.

On a side note, while we are tallying up totals, there was a total of 86

"Best Plays" for the meet and 34 of these had their picture taken for a win rate

of nearly 40 percent.

I would like to thank all of you who have followed the Notebook through the

meet and I wish you nothing but winners until next summer when it is time to

return once more to where the "Turf meets the Surf" at Del Mar.

Horses to Watch

2ND - TEMPTING DATE (Perfect Mandate) is now a perfect two for two in her

brief career. The chestnut followed up her game maiden win on the dirt with an

equally solid performance here against allowance-company on the grass. The

three-year-old filly vied for the lead through opening fractions of :21 3/5 and

:44 before digging in gamely through the stretch drive to hit the finish line

three parts of a length in front.

3TH - Indian Country was claimed for $50,000 in his previous start then

returned today to win a stakes race for his new connections. The bay closed with

an impressive turn of foot through the stretch in the Pirate's Bounty and could

very well loom a threat in his next start, provided the connections don't become

too ambitious with his placement.