Salamis enjoys clear sailing in Hollywood Derby

Chad Brown shippers captured two of the three graded stakes at Del Mar on Saturday, with Salamis taking the $301,500 Hollywood Derby (G1) and Just Aloof romping in the $103,000 Jimmy Durante (G3).

Salamis was also concluding a Turf Festival double for sire Speightstown, whose son Call Sign Seven sprang a $139 shock in the $201,500 Seabiscuit H. (G2).

Hollywood Derby (G1)

While 4-5 favorite Test Score was stymied at a crucial stage in the Hollywood Derby, Salamis had the luxury of clear sailing to launch his rally. That was the key to victory for the Juddmonte homebred, whose half-sister Segesta hopes for similar luck in Sunday’s Matriarch (G1).

Salamis, the 3.10-1 second choice, flanked Test Score as they both settled off the early pace. Up front, the 52-1 maiden Kokosan tried to steal it through fractions of :24.14, :49.92, and 1:15.18 on the firm course. The forwardly placed Tempus Volat and Tom’s Magic got the jump on the closers, but Salamis delivered the superior turn of foot.

Jockey Umberto Rispoli followed Brown’s instructions to keep Salamis in his comfort zone outside, and the colt did the rest. Drafting behind Tom’s Magic and following him into the lane, Salamis collared him by a neck. The winner’s final time for 1 1/8 miles, 1:50.74, reflected the lack of any meaningful pace.

Test Score found himself bottled up just when Salamis was building momentum. By the time the favorite dove into a seam, it was too late. Test Score checked in third, another neck astern of Tom’s Magic.

Tempus Volat didn’t fly enough and reported home fourth. Kokosan, Friendly Confines, Maaz, and Copp concluded the order of finish. Noble Confessor was scratched, reportedly due to the cancellation of his flight.

Salamis returned $8.20 for his first graded stakes coup. Successful in his stakes debut in the Sept. 28 Gio Ponti S. at Aqueduct, the dark bay was a close fifth in the Oct. 25 Bryan Station (G3) at Keeneland. His resume now reads 7-3-0-2, $353,363.

The Kentucky-bred is out of Grade 1 heroine Antonoe, a First Defence mare who descends from Juddmonte’s high-class racemare and producer All at Sea. They belong to the family of Hall of Famer Damascus.

Seabiscuit (G2)

Jockey Ricardo Gonzalez masterminded a rail-skimming rally by a Michael McCarthy longshot – a scenario that might trigger a sense of déjà vu. Back in August, Gonzalez similarly steered McCarthy’s Velocity to a 35-1 upset in the Del Mar Oaks (G1). 

But Savio-Cannon Thoroughbreds’ Call Sign Seven went off at nearly twice those odds on Saturday, at 68.50-1, and created an even more inscrutable result. Sixth in his only previous stakes attempt in last December’s Mathis Mile (G2), he had not raced since a belated seventh in a Santa Anita allowance on March 2. Call Sign Seven entered the Seabiscuit as the 116-pound lightweight.

The 9-5 favorite, El Potente, was also coming off a layoff, but he’d developed into a graded winner when last seen in the Feb. 1 Thunder Road (G3). Yet in the Seabiscuit, a contested pace worked against him and played into the hands of the deep-closing Call Sign Seven.

Pace rival Cabo Spirit was narrowly ahead through the opening quarter in :23.27. El Potente’s inside draw enabled him to take the lead into the clubhouse turn, but Cabo Spirit continued to prompt as the favorite carved out splits of :47.11 and 1:11.15. 

El Potente shrugged Cabo Spirit off at the top of the stretch and braced for a battalion of challengers. Valiantly resisting Almendares and trying to hang on from Astronomer, El Potente very nearly lasted.

In the final strides, however, Call Sign Seven exploded up the inside to stun them all. A half-length up at the wire, the lightly-raced four-year-old negotiated 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.71.

Astronomer headed El Potente for runner-up honors. Old Pal and Almendares, the respective fourth and fifth, were separated by the same margin in the blanket finish. There was a gap back to Stay Hot, trailed by Sumter and Cabo Spirit. Scoobie Quando was withdrawn. 

Call Sign Seven’s new career-high advanced his mark to 6-3-0-0, $190,500. Bred by Willow Oaks Stable in Kentucky, Call Sign Seven sold for $315,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling. His dam, the Awesome Again mare Awesome Marchesa, is a half-sister to graded scorers Rookie Sensation and Mark One. This is the immediate family of Canadian champion Holy Helena, Grade 2-winning sprinter Holy Boss, and multiple Grade 1 vixen Society. 

Jimmy Durante (G3)

Whisper Hill Farm’s homebred Just Aloof extended her record to 2-for-2 with a dominant display, despite still showing a touch of greenness in her stakes debut. The Brown juvenile was moving forward from her Aqueduct maiden, where she got up by a neck, and telegraphed that there’s much more to come.

That’s what you’d expect for a blueblood daughter of Triple Crown champion Justify and the Galileo mare Aloof. Herself a Group 3 winner in Ireland, Aloof is closely related to multiple highweights Churchill and Clemmie. Just Aloof ran right up to her pedigree here.

With Hector Berrios aboard, the 3-1 favorite tracked pacesetter Bourbon and Ginger through splits of :22.63, :47.21, and 1:12.36. When Just Aloof took command, swinging for home, she looked slightly disorganized as she adjusted from the turn to the stretch and wandered around a bit.

But Just Aloof drew off once in full deployment mode. The blaze-faced bay crossed the wire 2 1/2 lengths clear while finishing the mile in 1:36.78.

Latte Luv was best of the rest by a half-length. La Ville Lumiere and Yours Sincerely dead-heated for third, followed by Wild Like the West, Hypergamy, Special Wood, Cee Drew, Sweet Little Lila, Umbralle, and Bourbon and Ginger. 

Kentucky-bred Just Aloof has now earned $106,750. Given her scope and pedigree, she promises to blossom at three.