Dr. Schivel. (Benoit Photo)
Del Mar Press Release/Edited
DEL MAR, Calif.—Del Mar will present a dandy doubleheader of stakes offerings Saturday featuring the $400,000, Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes and the $300,000, Grade II San Diego Handicap. They will go as Race 10 and Race 8, respectively, on an 11-race program that has drawn 128 runners.
The Crosby, named, of course, in honor of the track’s founder, has drawn 12 fast horses for a six-furlong spin that not only guarantees the winner a $240,000 check and Grade I honors, but also grants them a guaranteed paid entrance to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita this November through the “Win and You’re In” program. The race’s defending champ, Kretz Racing’s American Theorem, is back to give the dash another try.
The San Diego, one of the track’s oldest stakes (this will be its 82nd edition), will award its victor with a prize of $180,000 and black type honors. The mile and one-sixteenth is also seen as the perfect prep for Del Mar’s premier event, the Grade I, $1-million FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic, which will be renewed this year on Saturday, September 2. Ten runners have thrown their hats in the San Diego ring, including last year’s winner in Fox Hollow Racing of Siena Farms’ Royal Ship. This race guarantees its winner a slot in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, also in November at Santa Anita.
The Crosby is a very well-matched bunch, but Del Mar’s morning line maker Jon White has hung Red Baron’s Barn Dr. Schivel – who won the Crosby in 2021 as a 3-year-old – as the ever-so-slight favorite at 7/2. He’ll have top rider Juan Hernandez in the boot.
The San Diego is headed by Pegram, Watson and Weitman’s Defunded, a 5-year-old gelding who has won seven races and more than $1.5 million so far in his career. He’s listed at 8/5 on the morning line and also gets the saddle services of Hernandez.
Here are the full fields for the two headliners in post-position order with riders and odds:
San Diego Field
1. Reddam Racing’s Slow Down Andy (Gutierrez, 5-1)
2. Royal Ship (Smith, 6-1)
3. Hronis Racing’s Tripoli (Pereira, 15-1)
4. Bee Zee, Babington or Hudson, et al’s Missed the Cut (Berrios, 5-1)
5. Donnie Crevier’s American Admiral (Vazquez, 6-1)
6. Defunded
7. Joseph Peacock, Jr.’s Senor Buscador (Geovanni Franco, 12-1)
8. Don Alberto Stable’s Piroli (Desormeaux) (Scratched)
9. Rebecca Young’s Tisquantum (Maldonado, 30-1)
10. Alfred Pais’ Brickyard Ride (Rispoli, 6-1)
First post for the Saturday progam is 2 p.m.
