Del Mar Thoroughbred Club

3rd-DMR, $61K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 4:30 p.m. At last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, trainer Bob Baffert with agent Donato Lanni bid to $1.8 million to secure NAFISA (Quality Road) on behalf of an undisclosed client who turned out to be Zedan Racing. Consigned by Lane's End (hip 213), the auction's overall third topper was bred by Greg Goodman's Mt. Brilliant Farm & Ranch and Lane's End's W. S. Farish. It was Goodman who purchased her SP dam Ithinkisawapudycat (Bluegrass Cat) for $2.2 million in-foal to Constitution at...

2nd-DMR, $61K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 4:00 p.m. A couple of pricey colts will lineup for their Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert on Saturday at Del Mar. IMAGINATION (Into Mischief) was purchased for $1,050,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September by SF Bloodstock/Starlight Racing/Madaket before adding investors Stonestreet Stables, Dianne Bashor, Robert Masterson, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovon and Tom Ryan. The bay colt out of GSW Magical Feeling (Empire Maker) counts Oaklawn Mile S. hero Exulting (Tapit) as a half-brother and GIII Monmouth Oaks heroine Occult as a full-sister....

3rd-Del Mar, $63,500, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 11-10, 2yo, f, 5fT, :57.39, fm, neck. JULIAS DREAM (f, 2, Flameaway--Cinnamon Girl, by Meadowlake) earned the title 'TDN Rising Star' at first asking Aug. 6 by the seaside oval when she won pillar to post by 5 1/2 lengths for her top five first-crop sire while sprinting over the turf. Switching to the main track in the GI Del Mar Debutante, she was a well-beaten eighth to fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro). Back on the grass as the 3-5 choice...

Entries were drawn Tuesday for the eight-race Friday card that kicks off the 13-day Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar, the track said in a release Wednesday afternoon. This year's stakes schedule is very similar to last year. Out of 15, nine are graded. Over $2 million in purse money will be up for grabs over the course of the four-week meet, including the GI Hollywood Derby on Saturday, Dec. 2 and the GI Matriarch S. on Sunday, Dec. 3. "Where we're laid out on the calendar is perfect," Del...

For the fourth year in a row, top racing announcer Larry Collmus will be back in the booth at Del Mar to call the track's upcoming Bing Crosby Season from Nov. 10 to Dec. 3, their front office said in a release Friday. Besides his three earlier fall sojourns, Collmus also covered the limited 2020 summer season at the track. "We really couldn't ask for anyone better than Larry to be filling our booth in the planned absence of our longstanding caller Trevor Denman," said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar's president...

Under the toughest of spotlights, the industry's collective eyes often turn to the stuff under foot. At least, that's what trainer Mark Casse did in a widely-shared TDN Q&A. "I think we really, seriously, need to look at more synthetic tracks," Casse said, triggering yet another cavalcade of commentary on the conceived benefits and blights of synthetic surfaces. "I believe in them. I believe they've got plenty of data to back that up." Former TDN writer Lucas Marquardt followed it up with an analysis of race-day fatality data through The...

The 57th International Conference of Horseracing Authorities, focused this year on safeguarding equine welfare and exploring shifts in societal expectations and the sport's response around the world, took place on Oct. 2 at Saint-Cloud racetrack in Paris. Organised by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), the day-long conference emphasized horse racing in a changing society, safeguarding equine welfare and explore shifts in societal expectations and the racing industry's response around the world. "Today we continued what has been a chief mission throughout the life of the Federation: equine welfare,"...

Oaklawn Jockey Club in Hot Springs named Matt Dinerman as the new track announcer for the upcoming Thoroughbred racing season, which begins December 8, the organization said in a release early Friday morning. Dinerman, 31, comes to Hot Springs following a six-year stint as the track announcer at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, California. He has also served as track announcer at the Sonoma County Fair meet in Santa Rosa, California, for the past two years. "I'm honored to be selected for such a prestigious role, following in the footsteps...

As the sport continues in its efforts to drastically reduced the number of fatalities that occur in races and in morning training, there's little doubt that StrideSAFE is going to play an important role in preventing breakdowns. StrideSAFE is a biometric sensor mechanism that slips into the saddle cloth to detect minute changes in a horses's gait at high speed. Those changes can, and often do, signal that a horse is in the early stages of having a problem that could lead to a fatal injury. If the StrideSAFE data...

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. The TDN also posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from the same week. These include decisions from around the country. California Track: Del Mar Date: 09/10/2023 Licensee: Antonio Fresu, jockey Penalty: One-day suspension Violation:...

5th-Del Mar, $84,500, Msw, 9-10, 2yo, 1mT, 1:36.03, fm, 1/2 length. FORMIDABLE MAN (c, 2, City of Light--Fanticola {GSW & GISP, $561,986}, by Silent Name {Jpn}) was a 9-2 shot here at first asking and the bay colt wrangled the lead past the grandstand, settling on the front end into the first turn. The hooded Mike McCarthy trainee continued to set the fractions and arriving at the top of the lane, he fended off a challenge from fellow firster and favorite Ngannou (Mendelssohn) to win by half a length. The...

Flattery (Flatter) battled seven others to win the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf Saturday. After she broke her maiden at first asking at Del Mar over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course Aug. 19, the chestnut filly returned here as the 3-1 third choice. From the first jumps she was taken back along the rail towards the rear of the field as a longshot set a brisk pace. The Peter Eurton trainee continued to wait her turn until the far turn when she tipped to the outside and under a drive,...