Collected's Conclude Strong in Oceanside on Del Mar's Opening Weekend

Conclude Benoit

Conclude (Collected) brought his stakes-winning form with him from Santa Anita and returned to the winner's circle in Del Mar's customary opening day feature–the Caesars Sportsbook Oceanside S.

A winner a black-type winner at the turf sprint distance last out May 21 in Santa Anita's Desert Code S., Conclude's first race after his freshening from that contest proved fruitful as the 9-2 second choice here. Showing some early speed after the jump but quickly overtaken and outrun by a loose leader on the clubhouse turn, the chestnut son of GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Believe You Can bided his time in second as Game Time (Not This Time) reeled off :22.17, :46.58 and 1:11.32 splits. Three furlongs out and locking horns with that one around the far turn, Conclude took over nearing the head of the stretch and drove clear to a stylish 1 1/4-length victory. The 5-2 favorite Classical Cat tried gamely to catch him but had to settle for second while 26-1 shocker Ah Jeez gave his sire two of the top three placings in the trifecta. Conditioner Philip D'Amato went 1-2 as well as picking up his 45th stakes victory and third Oceanside S.

“When he opened up a length or two at the top of the lane, I thought he was the horse,” said D'Amato after the race. “Classical Cat was coming on pretty good, but I think when Conclude felt him, he just spurted out again. I'm proud of both my horses.”

Conclude is his dam's most recent to the races as she aborted her 2021 American Pharoah. Believe You Can did have a yearling filly by Nyquist but her 2023 foal by Essential Quality was stillborn. The mare is a full-sister to the dam of GISP King Russell (Creative Cause) and a half to the dam of MSP Baytown Bear (Upstart). This is the family of MGSW Classic Elegance; MGISP Standard Deviation (Curlin); and multiple course record-setter GSP Summer to Remember (Summer Front). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

CAESARS SPORTSBOOK OCEANSIDE S., $104,000, Del Mar, 7-21, (C), 3yo, 1mT, 1:35.09, fm.
1–CONCLUDE, 120, c, 3, by Collected
        1st Dam: Believe You Can (GISW, $1,280,324), by Proud Citizen
        2nd Dam: El Fasto, by El Prado (Ire)
        3rd Dam: Taegu, by Halo
($140,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and Brereton C. Jones; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Philip D'Amato; J-Hector Isaac Berrios. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-0, $179,600. *1/2 to Believe in Royalty (Tapit), SW & GSP, $194,385.
2–Classical Cat, 124, c, 3, Mendelssohn–Conquest Strate Up, by Not Bourbon. ($65,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Michael House; B-Pippa's Hurricane LLC (KY); T-Philip D'Amato. $20,000.
3–Ah Jeez, 120, c, 3, Mendelssohn–Poetic, by Violence. ($80,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $55,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Great Friends Stables, LLC and Mark Davis; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $12,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1HF, 3/4. Odds: 4.70, 2.50, 26.00.
Also Ran: Mas Rapido (GB), Game Time, Agency, Ze'bul, El Oro (Fr), Zalamo (Fr), Mr Fisk, Escape Artist, Kid Azteca, Ever a Rebel. Scratched: Panic Alarm (Ire).

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