Surge Capacity gets to the wire just before his stablemate Fluffy Socks leading the Chad Brown Superfecta. (Del Mar Photo)
• Trainer Brown Sweeps Matriarch with Surge Capacity On Top
• Conditioner and Owner Klaravich Take Both Weekend G1s
Del Mar Press Release
DEL MAR, Calif.—Klaravich Stables’ Surge Capacity, benefitting from a daring rail-skimming ride by Joel Rosario, captured Sunday’s Grade I Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar, leading a one-two-three-four finish by Chad Brown trained females in the $303,500 mile on the turf.
[Surge Capacity] always does that (sits in behind horses). The same thing in Keeneland. She got in trouble and then when she gets in the clear, she just takes off,” said Hernandez, Chad Brown’s assistant.
“It’s just her; I’ve never seen that before. Fillies get intimidated a little bit but when she gets in the clear, she takes off again.”
The eastern-based conditioner, who has had great success shipping horses west as part of the seaside track’s Autumn Turf Festival, pulled off his biggest score yet in the closing-day headliner as he registered his sixth victory in the feature in its last seven runnings.
His top four finishes have never been accomplished in a Grade I race at Del Mar before.
Rosario, who previously was a three-time riding champion at Del Mar, won the headliner for the fifth time, getting his mount home by a head. They ran the distance in 1:33.95, the fastest mile grass race of the meeting.
“It was a little similar (of a ride) then last time. She’s a fighter, you know, she likes to run. She likes the competition. I kind of had no choice but to stay inside (in the stretch). I was just trying to save the ground and then go from there. I was very lucky, with her kick. She is a very nice horse,” said Rosario.
The winner is a 3-year-old daughter of the British sire Flintshire bred in Kentucky by her owner, Seth Klarman of Boston, MA. Yesterday, Klarman and Brown combined to win the Grade I Hollywood Derby at Del Mar with Program Trading under Flavien Prat.
Surge Capacity was winning her third graded stakes, but her first Grade I in her initial outing against older mares. Her $180,000 winning share of the purse pushed her bankroll up to $518,975.
Coming in second in the Brown parade was Head of Plains Partners’ Fluffy Socks, who finished a length and a half ahead of Madaket Stables, Dubb or Louis Lazzinnaro’s Beaute Cachee. Finishing fourth, just a head farther behind, was Juddmonte’s Whitebeam. In all, 12 horses ran.
Surge Capacity, the second betting choice behind Whitebeam, returned $11.40 to her backers.
Fractions were :22.80, :45.89, 1:10.26 and 1:22.14 with a final time of 1:33.95.
Earlier on the card, the juvenile ridgling Stay Hot took the overland heading for home and came away a neck best in the Grade III, $102,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes at a mile on the turf.
The winner, who is owned by the partnership of Exline-Border Racing, Burns Racing or the Estate of Brereton C. Jones, et al, ran the distance in 1:35.89 under rider Antonio Fresu. The son of the War Front stallion Summer Front is trained by Peter Eurton.
Finishing second was SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, et al’s Rothschild, who had a head on third-place finisher Miracle Mark, owned by Sland Dunk Racing and Old Bones Racing Stable.
“Today, I was trying to read the race before on paper, but when the gates opened, I had to drop him back. I was not so happy where I was because I knew what was going to happen on the last stretch, Fresu said.
“Then we went a little too wide, (but) if that didn’t happen, I think we could have won better then by a neck. Still, he had two bad experience on dirt. I think he is a good horse in the making. I think he is getting stronger and stronger.”
Stay Hot was winning his first stakes with the effort and the winner’s share of the purse pushed his total earnings to $116,940. He’s now been victorious in two of five starts.
His first in the DeMille, it was Fresu’s third win of the meet who has won four stakes at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the meet for winning trainer Eurton and his first in the DeMille. He now has 11 stakes wins at Del Mar.
“I thought he’d be a little more forwardly placed. As it turned out that nine hole was a little bit of a detriment, but it also helped him get outside, which is probably more comfortable. That was hard to take (being wide at the top of the lane) but he seemed like he had something left and it was a fight to the wire. I’m exhausted,” commented Eurton.
The winner paid $6.60 as the second choice in the field of nine 2-year-olds.
Fractions were :22.00, :46.30, 1:12.16 and 1:24.33 with a final time of 1:35.89.
In the track’s popular Pick Six bet, which was under a “mandatory payout” arrangement on closing day, the total pool was $441,961. There were 34 winning tickets on the bet with each one worth $6,944.
Del Mar will return to racing next July 20 for its 85th summer season.
