DEL MAR, Calif.—Two very different, but very interesting, stakes races will highlight the Sunday Labor Day Weekend card at Del Mar.
The first test brings out 3-year-old fillies, seven of them in fact, for the 45th edition of the Torrey Pines Stakes, a Grade III offering that carries a purse of $125,000 and goes at a mile on the main track.
The second is for 3-year-olds and up on the turf course at five furlongs. It’s called the Green Flash Handicap, provides a $150,000 purse and also carries Grade III status. Its 20th running has drawn 11 fast turfers. Additionally, the race is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” event, guaranteeing the victorious horse admission – with all fees paid – to the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, which will be run at Keeneland in Kentucky in November.
Of the seven in the Torrey Pines, three of them are previous stakes winners, two of those out of the Bob Baffert barn – and it is noted that the Hall of Fame trainer has won this race six times.
The Baffert pair are Magnier, Tabor or Smith’s Under the Stars and Willow Grace Farm and Petersen’s Grace Adler. The conditioner also has entered Pegram, Watson and Weitman’s promising Midnight Memories.
The horse they might all have to beat, though, is the H & E Ranch’s Desert Dawn, a good second against older fillies and mares here on August 6 in the Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at a mile and one sixteenth. Earlier this year she captured the Santa Anita Oaks, then ran third in the prestigious Kentucky Oaks and third again in the Summer Oaks at Santa Anita. Phil D’Amato trains Desert Dawn, who is an Arizona-bred daughter of the Tapit sire Cupid.
The Green Flash is topped by last year’s winner of the grass dash in Nick Alexander’s homebred Lieutenant Dan. The 6-year-old gelding is by Alexander’s home stallion Grazen, a fast horse who gets fast horses. Lieutenant Dan won the Green Flash by two and a quarter length in 2021, then came back to run a good second to champion Golden Pal in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, also at Del Mar on November 6. The bay horse hasn’t been out since but has been training steadily for conditioner Steve Miyadi.
His chief opponent in the sprint appears to be Grandilla’s Dubai Key, who is three for three in the U.S. since coming north from Chile. The 5-year-old horse by the Deputy Minister stallion Key Deputy has won eight of 13 career outings and is at his best in turf sprints.
Here are the full fields for the two races with riders and morning line odds:
Torrey Pines Stakes |
1 Desert Dawn Umberto Rispoli 9/5 |
2 Kirstenbosch Tyler Baze 15-1 |
3 Midnight Memories Ramon Vazquez 3-1 |
4 Malibu Marie Jose Valdivia Jr. 15-1 |
5 Under the Stars Juan Hernandez 5/2 |
6 Cinnamon Cat Abel Cedillo 10-1 |
7 Grace Adler Mike Smith 3-1 |
Green Flash Handicap |
1 Dubai Key Hector Berrios 3-1 |
2 Yes He Can Kyle Frey 15-1 |
3 Super Ocho Armando Ayuso 6-1 |
4 Lane Way Mike Smith 15-1 |
5 Nero Ryan Ryan Curatolo 15-1 |
6 Chasin Munny Abel Cedillo 20-1 |
7 Barristan The Bold Joe Bravo 15-1 |
8 Coulthard Ramon Vazques 15-1 |
9 Lieutenant Dan Hernandez 5/2 |
10 Whatmakessammyrun Umberto Rispoli 5-1 |
11 Maven Edwin Maldonado 8-1 |
While Baffert has won the Torrey Pines six times, he’s outdone by trainer John Sadler, who has visited the winner’s circle after the race on seven occasions. Sadler has Kirstenbosch in the mile and the daughter of Midnight Lute sports a straight maiden win and a stakes placing to her credit so far and, as noted, her trainer certainly knows how to win this race.
Among the champions who have won the Torrey Pines are Stellar Wind (trained by Sadler) in 2015 and Beholder (trained by Richard Mandella) in 2013.
The Torrey Pines is Race 5 on the 11-race Sunday program. The Green Flash goes as Race 9. First post Sunday is 1 p.m.
DMTC Press Release
Main Photo: Grace Adler (outside) and Midnight Memories worked in company going five furlongs in 1:01.20 handily 46/73 at Del Mar. Photo by Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire