DEL MAR, Calif.— Hronis Racing of Kosta, Stephanie and Pete Hronis of Delano, CA, were the leading owners at the 2021 Del Mar summer meeting, both for money won and number of wins.
This is the sixth time that the Hronis’ have been leading owner for money won. They did it previously at the shore track in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2014 and 2013.
Hronis Racing earned $1,020,440 during the season, a large portion of it — $600,000 in fact – when their horse Tripoli won the TVG Pacific Classic on August 21. The Hronis’ also had eight wins, the most by any owner.
Second in money won was Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal with $499,951. Third was Reddam Racing with $442,140.
Nick Alexander and Kaleem Shah were second in the wins department, each with seven firsts.
Flavien Prat (Benoit Photos)
Prat, Miller Successfully Defend Jockey, Trainer Titles
Flavien Prat and Peter Miller continued to reign supreme as the 82nd Del Mar summer season of Thoroughbred racing came to a conclusion on Labor Day Monday, September 6.
Despite missing part or all of three weekends during the meeting to accept assignments for major stakes at Saratoga in New York or Arlington Park in Chicago, Prat easily notched his third straight riding title and fifth, solo or shared, in the last six seasons.
With four wins on the final Sunday of the meeting and three more on Labor Day, Prat finished with 47 wins – only three less than in 2020 – and had a 15-win margin over Juan Hernandez and 18 over Abel Cedillo.
A year after establishing a single-season record 15 stakes wins, the 29-year-old native of Melun, France, added 11 more, boosting his total to 72, 11th best in track history.
Miller saddled 26 wins from 143 starters, two less than the previous year, but seven more than Bob Baffert posted from 63 representatives. The title was not only the second straight for Miller, but it was also his fifth at the summer meeting since 2012 and his ninth overall.
A pair of final weekend stakes victories – with None Above the Law in the Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby and Liam’s Dove in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies — boosted his stakes total to 43 at what the 56-year-old Encinitas and Manhattan Beach, CA, resident often refers to as his “home” track.
Tripoli winning the TVG Pacific Classic with an exuberant Tiago Pereira in the irons. (Benoit Photos)
Tripoli Voted 2021 Horse of the Meeting
A victory in the 31st running of the TVG Pacific Classic propelled Tripoli to honors as Horse of the Meeting and top older horse for the 2021 season at Del Mar in a vote of the media.
Trained by John Sadler for Hronis Racing, Tripoli, a 4-year-old chestnut son of Kitten’s Joy, followed a runner-up effort in the San Diego Handicap – beaten a half-length by Express Train – with a 1 ¼-length victory in the $1 million signature event of the summer “where the turf meets the surf.”
The win was the third in the last four years for the Hronis/Sadler combination and carried with it a guaranteed spot in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic when racing’s fall championship event makes its second visit to Del Mar on November 5-6.
The media voters in the annual poll were in unanimous agreement only on Going Global, winner of the Grade I, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks as the top 3-year-old filly of the meeting.
Dr. Schivel’s win in the six-furlong, Grade I, $300,000 Bing Crosby barely held sway over Ginobili’s in the seven-furlong, Grade II Pat O’Brien with one vote going to the flashy 3-year-old colt Flightline after a scintillating six-furlong allowance win on the penultimate day of the meeting.
For top grass horse, Grade II, $250,000 Eddie Read Stakes winner United edged repeating Grade II, $300,000 Del Mar Mile winner Mo Forza while one voter opted for Grade II, $300,000 Del Mar Handicap upsetter Astronaut.
And in the top 3-year-old division, None Above The Law, with wins in the Real Good Deal and the Grade II, $250,000 Del Mar Derby edged Shared Belief champion Medina Spirit with one vote going to the aforementioned Flightline.
Shedaresthedevil, shipped in by Brad Cox, second only to Steve Asmussen in the national trainer standings, won the Grade I, $300,000 Clement L Hirsch Stakes and was solidly voted the top older filly or mare.
Bob Baffert’s TVG Del Mar Debutante and Runhappy Del Mar Futurity winners in the final two days of the meeting, Grace Adler and Pinehurst, respectively, took the honors in the juvenile divisions.
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Press Release
Top photo: Del Mar Summer meet top owners, Kosta (left) and Pete Hronis. (Benoit Photos)
