DEL MAR LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 31
Antonio Fresu / 25
Hector Berrios / 22
Kazushi Kimura / 19
Umberto Rispoli / 16
Armando Ayuso / 13
Ricardo Gonzalez / 9
Trainers / Wins
Bob Baffert / 16
Mark Glatt / 13
John Sadler / 11
Michael McCarthy / 11
Phil D’Amato / 11
Peter Miller / 11
George Papaprodromou / 9
UPCOMING STAKES
DEL MAR
Saturday
• $1 million, Grade I Pacific Classic, 3-year-olds and up, 1¼ miles
• $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Handicap, 3 and up, 1⅜ miles on turf
• $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Mile, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf
• $150,000, Grade III Green Flash Handicap, 3 and up, 5 furlongs on turf
• $150,000, Grade III Torrey Pines Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile
Sunday
• $300,000, Grade II Del Mar Derby, 3-year-olds, 1⅛ miles on turf
• $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile
Monday
• $100,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile
• $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes, California-bred 2-year-old fillies, 5½ furlongs
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Streaks are on the line in stakes on the Pacific Classic undercard at Del Mar on Saturday. In the Del Mar Handicap, 7-year-old Gold Phoenix (Flavien Prat riding) tries to become the first horse to win the same Del Mar race four years in a row. In the Green Flash Handicap, 7-year-old Motorious (Antonio Fresu) seeks his third straight in the event. Both Gold Phoenix and Motorious are trained by Phil D’Amato, who completed a stakes triple on Pacific Classic day in 2024 with Conclude winning the Del Mar Mile, and has King of Gosford (Prat) and Almendares (Fresu) in that race this time. But the Del Mar Mile features 4-year-old Formidable Man (Umberto Rispoli), trying to extend his perfect record on the Del Mar turf to 6 for 6.
• Gold Phoenix is the first horse to even try for four in a row in a Del Mar race. The four other three-peaters include Native Diver, who won the San Diego Handicap in 1963-64-65 but targeted a different Del Mar race in 1966.
• In action this weekend are seven of the 10 horses in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic contender rankings. Sunday’s $1 million, Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga is headed by 8-5 morning-line favorite Sierra Leone (No. 2 in the rankings), 2-1 Mindframe (3), 5-1 Highland Falls (9) and 8-1 White Abarrio (8-1). Saturday’s Pacific Classic is led by 9-5 Journalism (4), 8-5 Nysos (5) and 3-1 Fierceness (7). The $7 million, Grade I Classic highlights the Breeders’ Cup from Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
• Sovereignty remains No. 1 in the Classic contenders rankings – as well as the National Thoroughbred Racing Association horse rankings – after the Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner’s 10-length victory at 3-10 odds in the Travers at Saratoga last Saturday. Sovereignty’s 2:00.84 clocking for 1¼ miles earned a 115 Beyer speed figure, highest anywhere this year.
• Six-year-old quarter horse Scoops Dynasty won with jockey Jacob Enriquez at 17-1 in the Grade I Go Man Go Handicap at Los Alamitos on Sunday, nosing out 7-year-old Empressum. Scoops Dynasty has won the 400-yard race in 2023 and 2025, Empressum in 2022 and 2024.
• The death of Hidden Speed, a winless 2-year-old quarter horse who was vanned off the track with an injury after finishing fourth of seven in a race at Los Alamitos on Aug. 24, was the 20th in racing and training from musculoskeletal and other causes at Los Al, Santa Anita and Del Mar since the region’s racing season began Dec. 26, according to data on the California Horse Racing Board website. That equals the number of deaths recorded in the same period in 2025 but is lower than the average number (24) of deaths in this span in the past four years.
• National Turf Writers and Broadcasters announced 2025 award winners, including Steve Andersen of the Daily Racing Form receiving the Walter Haight Award for career excellence in turf writing and Del Mar CEO Joe Harper getting the Joe Palmer Award for meritorious service to racing.
• Albin Jimenez, leading jockey at Belterra Park in Cincinnati, was suspended for one year by track stewards after a passive-looking ride to finish second with an odds-on favorite in a $9,500 race Aug. 21. The winner of the race was ridden by Summer Pauly, with whom Jimenez has a child, reports said.
— Kevin Modesti
Originally Published:
