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An elated Flavien Prat aboard Program Trading. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
At Del Mar This Weekend
Del Mar Stable Notes
DEL MAR, Calif.—It’s the closest thing to a jockeys all-star weekend you’ll ever get at Del Mar, outside of the Breeders’ Cup. In addition to the star-studded jockey colony already here at Del Mar this fall, a number of top name riders have descended on the seaside oval hoping to harvest some of the riches up for grabs during the Fall Turf Festival now underway.
Eight of the top 12 earnings leaders in the nation are riding this weekend at Del Mar starting with the leader Flavien Prat, who is the pick of many for this year’s Eclipse Award. Prat is a regular at Del Mar in the fall, returning to his old stomping grounds this time of year to renew old acquaintances and add to his gaudy numbers.
Prat leads the nation in earnings with over $36 million coming into Saturday’s racing. He has 218 victories this year but most importantly he has 78 stakes wins, one shy of Irad Ortiz, Jr.’s record and 53 graded stakes victories, two shy of the record set by Jerry Bailey back in 2003. Prat is also just one stakes score away from his 100th at Del Mar.
Prat clinched the earnings title at Del Mar at the beginning of the month with two Breeders’ Cup wins. His $5.6 million in earnings is over $2 million better than the next one in line, William Buick with $3.2 million. Buick has returned to England and will not be adding to his totals here at Del Mar this year. But John Velasquez, who walked away from the Breeders’ Cup with $2.3 million in earnings, can add to his sum.
Velazquez is here for the Turf Festival along with the Ortiz Brothers (Irad and Jose), Manny Franco, Dylan Davis, Joel Rosario and Frankie Dettori. Throw in Juan Hernandez, who leads the Del Mar fall meet with 15 wins and is 13th in the national jockey rankings, and you have arguably the strongest line-up of jockeys outside of the Breeders’ Cup here at Del Mar for the next couple of days.
COOLING OUT ~ ~ ~ ~
Trainer Jonathan Thomas says Truly Quality came out of his win in the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup in good condition and will be pointed to the marathon races at Santa Anita this winter, or take a break and point to the bigger graded stakes next year…
Del Mar and the California racing community were saddened to learn of the passing of trainer Ben Cecil, who lost his fight with cancer Friday. He trained from 1996 until his passing and won 16 stakes at Del Mar, including the Grade I Del Mar Oaks in 2001 with Golden Apples, who went on the following season to be declared America’s Eclipse Award winner as top female turf runner. One of his chief client’s was the highly successful businessman and horse owner J. Paul Reddam. Cecil leaves behind his wife Kristina, as well as a son and a daughter. He was 56.
