Big City Lights

Saturday's GII Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar was billed as a showdown between the top sprinter in the West, two-time GI Bing Crosby Stakes winner The Chosen Vron (Vronsky), and Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), winner of the world's richest race, the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup. The Chosen Vron toted a gaudy six-race win steak, while Senor Buscador was returning from a break after finishing third in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Despite the headlines, apparently Mark Davis and Great Friends Stable's Raging Torrent (c, 3, Maximus Mischief-Violent Wave, by Violence),...

For a horse that has won the richest race in the world, Saturday's $250,000 GII Pat O'Brien S. at Del Mar might not seem like an overly difficult spot. But when Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) heads to the post for Saturday's race, he probably won't be the favorite and there will no doubt be some wiseguys who throw him out altogether. The problems are threefold: He's not a seven-furlong horse; he will not have run for 147 days; he'll be facing the best sprinter on the West Coast in the California-bred...

Don Valpredo is to Cal-breds what tungsten is to steel. "I absolutely love the training industry and the breeding industry here," said Vapredo, 85, over the phone from Bakersfield. "In fact, I'm sitting here today with the Stallion Register on my lap, trying to find the right mix for my broodmares." When Valpredo hasn't been producing Cal-breds--along with John Harris, he's responsible for 1994 California Horse of the Year, Soviet Problem--he's sought to popularize them through multiple warmed seats on multiple industry boards over multiple decades. They even named a...