Del Mar is extending its best fall race for two weekends, which is a good thing. After a season filled with gluttonous Super Saturdays, in which the barn was empty of top horses in search of top handlers, such a schedule is a welcome relief. The long-distance boys who went a mile and a half in the November 25 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (G2T) tournament deserve attention, as do the middle-distance grass troops in the Seabiscuit Handicap (G2T) on Saturday. and tough game. -kill ground horses in Native Diver Stakes (G3) on Sunday.
Races that take place at this time of year are rarely championship meaningful, especially in the West. Before Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) became a reality, the Matriarch Stakes (G1T) at Hollywood Park was a strong indication of the Eclipse Awards for the division. And in a 2-year-old boy’s swing season, CashCall/Hollywood Futurity (G1) will sometimes take the lead.
Now, the Matriarch anchors Del Mar’s final weekend on December 4, ripe again for the East Coast stables to loot, while the current Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), is set to date. December 17th after its name Racetrack Los Alamitos, which is pretty much run for the benefit of client Bob Baffert. The shed has won seven of its eight runs at its new home.
That’s why the $250,000 Seabiscuit Handicap, at 1/16 mile, is so appealing. Not only does it gather the best middle distance turf in California this year, but it also has a chance to win against the tops. Santin will put him at the center of the conversation for the 2022 Grand Prix.
The opinion that Modern game having a sewn-in title may not be wrong. The 3-year-old Godolphin pony won a French classic in his first start of the season, followed by the Ricoh Woodbine Mile Stakes (G1T) in Canada and the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile presented by the PDJF (G1T) in Keeneland. He also finished second with Cartier’s Horse of the Year Baeed in the Qatar Sussex Stakes (G1), the tournament was almost won.
Santin brought the colors of Godolphin through his 2022 campaign for Brendan Walsh, which included #1 wins in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes (G1T) and Arlington Million (G1T), both of which ran at Churchill Downs. The son of twisted humor no stranger to Del Mar, where he just caught Outside Shining last fall during the Hollywood Derby (G1T).
Beyond Brilliant will be in trouble again in Seabiscuit, and that too will happen Smooth as the strait who filmed his near-miss during the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Mile run in Del Mar. His 2022 campaign was a series of close calls and failures, culminating in an unremarkable ninth place finish behind Modern Games in Mile Nov .5.
Santin beat Smooth Like Strait (right) in the Arlington Million match at Churchill Downs
Michael McCarthy, his trainer, said: “He ran like a horse that was too fresh, too aggressive. “He hasn’t competed in a race since August and the atmosphere of the Breeders’ Cup couldn’t help. I’m drawing the line for that race, because his form is so consistent. Unfortunately.”
McCarthy said the last part with a hollow laugh. Start with a close loss first Domestic spending in the 2020 Hollywood Derby, Smooth Like Strait made it to the board in 11 consecutive races ranked 1st or 2nd — with two wins and seven seconds — before losing at Keeneland.
In that August race, he finished second behind Santin in the Arlington Million. Smooth Like Strait then cut his knee in a barn scratch and missed the Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) on a day Santin failed to shoot.
McCarthy added: “He’s been back in good training since the Breeders’ Cup and we know he enjoys the course. “He’s a handsome horse that does nothing but go out and put him down every time. I have no reason to think he won’t join my race.”
And, as a reminder, Smooth Like Strait carries with it the fortunes of American soldiers who have been helped in difficult times, both spiritually and medically, through the Special Operations Care Foundation. Owner Michael Cannon, a benefactor of the Foundation, welcomes PTSD and brain trauma veterans to his Del Mar home, and spends 50% of his nearly 1.8 million income dollars of Smooth Like Strait for this purpose.
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In the tradition of Thanksgiving, my annual retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Turkeys Still and How to Combine Them With Countless Recipes” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is starting to lose its appeal. For years I tried to recite the text after the end of Thanksgiving soccer games featuring Lions, Bears, or Money (oh my), but my audience quickly fell asleep. dozing, mouths drooling, their forks dangling from the remains of mince pies and pumpkin pie.
You can find “Turkish Ruins…” in “The Crack Up,” a collection of essays by Fitzgerald that includes a clinical retelling of mental breakdown and the path to recovery. his slowness. It doesn’t help that he drinks like a fish, as noted in his two surviving recipes, “Turkish Cocktail” and “Turkish with Whiskey”:
“This recipe is for a party of four. Take a gallon of whiskey and let it age for a few hours. Then serve, allowing a quarter per guest. The next day, the turkey should be added, little by little, stirring constantly and baking.”
Fitzgerald never wrote about horse racing. He left that world to people like his friend Ernest Hemingway, and later John Steinbeck and William Faulkner. But don’t say that to the Fitzgerald fans among racehorse owners and breeders, who again and again return to the writer’s world when naming their Thoroughbreds.
The Last Tycoon, named after Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel, won the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1986. Monroe Star, a pony born in 1981, was named after the studio boss in “The Last” Tycoon”, sadly won nothing. There have been fat ladies named Zelda Fitzgerald, the author’s wife, and Daisy Buchanan, Fitzgerald’s most famous heroine, along with a whole herd of ponies named one way or another for the mysterious hero. hidden in his most famous book, “The Great Gatsby.”
The great Gatsby is an iconic American name that Coolmore pulled from a hat for one of its Sadler’s Wells ponies in 2000. He nearly won the 2003 Vodafone Epsom Derby (G1) when caught at the last few yards by Kris Kin . Another athlete named The Great Gatsby is a useful disabled athlete in Australia, and another is a highly regarded diving athlete in Europe.
The best horse is named Jay Gatsby classified as a wagering subsidy winner who is closely related to War front gave him a research career in Louisiana. And among the many Purebreds simply named Gatsby has a purebred 4-year-old gelding that is having a good season in Florida for Alan Cohen’s Arindel Ranch, with a small win and over $345,000 in career earnings.
Best of all, had Gray Gatsby , whose pedigree stems from a mare named Starlight Dreams, a fitting connection to a character who spent many nights at the end of his dock staring at blue lights while longing for love. lost. Gray Gatsby has made a name for himself with earnings of almost $4.3 million and wins in the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) and QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes (G1).
