DEL MAR, Calif.— Good sprinters will zoom five furlongs on the Del Mar turf Thursday in the $82,000 allowance feature. The race has drawn 12 fillies and mares who’d like to run, but only eight will be allowed to do so.
The reason for the shorter lineup is that the Del Mar inner rail on the turf course will be out to its maximum extension of 30 feet for both Thursday and Friday. The track moves the rail out periodically to preserve the inner running lanes, which can, of course, be beaten down by repeated use. With the rail shift, new running lanes are put in play and the primary ones are given a chance to refresh and regrow.
Five-furlong sprints are all about speed, naturally enough, and there are a trio of fillies in the field who can pick ‘em up and put ‘em down rapidly.
Barber or Wachtel Stable’s Woodbine Way is one of them; David Bernsen or Abbodnanza Racing’s Stressed is another, and Michael Ellis’ Snark is the third.
Woodbine Way, a 4-year-old by the Tiznow sire Tourist, is a three-time winner who now races out of the barn of trainer Leonard Powell. She’s won twice on turf and her other score came on a synthetic surface.
Stressed is a 4-year-old by the fast horse Goldencents. The chestnut was haltered for a $50,000 tag out of a winning turf race on May 14 at Santa Anita by trainer Peter Eurton and came back to run second in a dirt sprint at Los Alamitos on June 25.
Snark is coming out of a tally against straight maidens on the lawn at Santa Anita on May 27. The Carpe Diem 3-year-old trains out of the barn of J. Eric Kruljac and has fires bullet half-mile works in her most recent early morning drills.
Here’s the starting eight in the feature from the rail out with their riders:
Woodbine Way (Florent Geroux up); Grenier, Lawless or Lewkowitz, et al’s Del Mar Drama (Kyle Frey); Rockingham Ranch’s Pammy’s Ready (Umberto Rispoli); Mark Dodson’s The Arcadian Way (Evan Roman); Stressed (Mario Gutierrez); California Racing Partners, Ciaglia, et al’s Baby Steps (Ramon Vazquez); Snark (Joe Bravo), and Holly and David Wilson’s Champagne Camie (Juan Hernandez).
The four also-eligibles on the roster are Deborah McAnally Trust’s Red Diamond (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Custom Truck Accessories, Shake, et al’s Lexington Humor (Bryan Pena); Film Holding and Sill’s Coruscation (Diego Herrera), and Thomsen Racing’s Equilove (Drayden Van Dyke).
Thursday’s card will start with a hefty $495,729 carryover in the Pick Six Single Ticket Jackpot wager, which has been unsolvable for the fans through the first seven days of racing.
First post Thursday will be at 2 p.m.
Del Mar Press Release
Photo: Peter Eurton trainee Stressed, who breaks from post 5 in Del Mar’s Thursday headliner (Benoit Photo)
