Del Mar

2nd-Del Mar, $61,500, Msw, 11-11, 2yo, 6f, 1:09.82, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. PILOT COMMANDER (c, 2, Justify--Rebuke, by Carson City), drawn on the inside in post two, ran to the money as the 6-5 favorite on debut. The $700,000 OBS March breezer broke like a shot and was pressed to his inside through an opening quarter of :22.89. He began to shake free rounding the far turn, kicked for home as the one to catch, and, despite hanging on his left lead down the stretch, handled his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate...

Making his first start on the main track after finishing a sneaky-good third when trying the turf on his Santa Anita debut Oct. 7. Zedan Racing Stables' Coach Prime (c, 2, Quality Road--Act Now, by Street Sense) was let off the leash with a furlong and a half to go Friday at Del Mar and powered away from his rivals to become the afternoon's second 'TDN Rising Star'. The joint third-priciest offering at last year's Keeneland September sale when hammering to bloodstock agent Donato Lanni for $1.7 million, was roughed...

8th-CD, $127k, Alw, 3yo/up, f/m, post time: 4:33 p.m. ET Bass Stables' beautifully bred BANDITA (Gun Runner) could not have been more impressive in her lone racetrack appearance to date, as she led every step of the seven furlongs on Gulfstream debut Jan. 29 to score by nearly nine lengths en route to a 'TDN Rising Star' nod (video). The $350,000 Keeneland September grad is unraced since. The bay is out of a daughter of four-time stakes winner and Grade III-placed Simplify (Pulpit), the dam of Bandita's stakes-winning full-sister Optionality...

The Breeders' Cup, only days removed from the 2023 renewal held at Santa Anita, will return to California in 2025 with Del Mar as the host site, the organization announced in a release late Wednesday afternoon. Del Mar also is scheduled to hold the event in 2024, marking three straight years the Breeders' Cup will be held in California and two straight at Del Mar. "Our return to Del Mar in back-to-back years marks the continuation of a wonderful collaboration and successful partnership, both with our friends at the track...

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...

Veteran jockey Frank Alvarado, a mainstay in Northern California throughout the 21st century, picked up his 4,000th career victory in Race 2 on Sunday at Golden Gate Fields aboard five-year-old mare Shout It Out (Boisterous). 54-year-old Alvarado had to wait out a photo finish before giving an exuberant fist pump when the order of finish was posted. He was greeted in the winner's circle post-race by family, friends, racing officials, and fellow members of the Golden Gate riding colony. Alvarado's mounts have accrued $87.8 million throughout a long and successful...

Purses at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club are getting a haircut for the 13-date fall meet that spans Nov. 10-Dec. 3. Del Mar executives speaking about the meet at Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting did not initially mention the purse cuts when making their standard presentation for licensure, which the CHRB unanimously granted. But Del Mar's president, Josh Rubinstein, detailed the reductions when directly queried about the state of purses by CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales. "We have reduced purses slightly for this fall meet," Rubinstein said. "[We're] coming...

Trainer Dan Blacker, who has been charged by the California Horse Racing Board with failing to comply with regulations that require that a horse undergoes a veterinary exam within 72 hours of a workout and that the work is entered into a CHRB database, has issued a statement in which he said he takes "full responsibility" for not following the rules. The issue came to light when an unraced Blacker-trainee named Animae (Speightstown) suffered a fatal injury after a July 1 workout at Santa Anita. The CHRB investigated and found...

   In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Zona Verde in a maiden race as the Del Mar meet wound to a close. Seeing Green At The Seaside The Benowitz Family Trust, CYBT, McLean Racing Stables and Michael Nentwig's Zona Verde (Ire) (Calyx {GB}) graduated at Del Mar in her U.S. debut on Friday (video). Bred by Knockainey Stud, the 30,000gns Tattersalls October Book 3 buy-back raced in their purple-and-gold-checked silks...

It's often been said that, no matter how hard the sport works to become safer, there will never come a time when there are zero fatalities. Unfortunately, that's probably true. But at the recently concluded Del Mar meet, not a single horse suffered a fatal breakdown during a race. Not once did a horse break a leg, crumple to the ground and then have to be euthanized behind a curtain blocking the view of a horrified public, the story making its way into the newspapers or the local news and...

With 39 wins and over $3 million in earnings, jockey Juan Hernandez won his second straight summer meet title at Del Mar while trainer Phil D'Amato picked up his fourth trainer's title out of the last five years. Similar to 2022, the trainer's title came down to the final day. D'Amato went into the final day with a one-win lead over Baffert and two over Doug O'Neill. All three posted one winner on the day. D'Amato won the summer meet title for the second straight year with 21 victories. Last...

If the last 24 hours have given us anything to judge by, the future of racing on the West Coast seems to be in safe hands. Just one day after 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) asserted herself atop her division in the GI FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante S., fellow 'Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) followed suit with a game performance to give trainer Bob Baffert his 17th win in the GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity. The colt's victory Sunday came as absolutely no surprise. An eight-length debut...