DEL MAR LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Antonio Fresu / 7
Hector Berrios / 5
Juan Hernandez / 4
Abel Lezcano / 3
(Three tied) / 2
Trainers / Wins
Peter Miller / 3
Michael McCarthy / 3
Phil D’Amato / 3
John Sadler / 3
(Five tied) / 2
UPCOMING STAKES
DEL MAR
Friday
• $150,000 Fleet Treat Stakes, California-bred 3-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs
Saturday
• $400,000, Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs
• $300,000, Grade II San Diego Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles
• $100,000 Daisycutter Handicap, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 5 furlongs on turf
Sunday
• $250,000, Grade II Eddie Read Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1⅛ miles on turf
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $400,000 Governor’s Cup Futurity, Cal-bred 2-year-old quarter horses, 350 yards
• $225,000 Governor’s Cup Derby, Cal-bred 3-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• The second weekend of Del Mar’s summer season features its first big stakes. While Saturday’s Grade II San Diego Handicap has a heavy favorite in Nysos, Saturday’s Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes and Sunday’s Grade II Eddie Read Stakes look more open. The Crosby features nine sprinters seeking a first Grade I win; World Record (Flavien Prat riding), shipping in from the East along with Crazy Mason (Christopher Elliott), is a 3-1 morning-line favorite. The Eddie Read pits double Grade I winner Formidable Man (Umberto Rispoli) and two other good 4-year-olds against five turf veterans.
• Raging Torrent has been retired, trainer Doug O’Neill confirmed Wednesday, after showing signs of a left foreleg injury in the six weeks since his $18 upset of Fierceness in the Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga. “Definite bummer,” O’Neill said in a text message. Four-year-old Raging Torrent’s consecutive wins with jockey Frankie Dettori in the Malibu at Santa Anita, the Godolphin Mile in Dubai and the Metropolitan lifted him to No. 1 in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association rankings in June. His seven wins from 14 starts included two Grade I’s.
• Jockey Tiago Pereira was expected to miss at least eight weeks of racing after suffering facial fractures when he fell with Origami in a turf race at Del Mar on Saturday. Pereira, 48, finished tied for third with six wins at the recent Los Alamitos thoroughbred meet, and was seventh with 11 wins at the Santa Anita Hollywood Meet. Origami, a 3-year-old filly, needed seven stitches but was otherwise OK, said O’Neill, her trainer.
• Rispoli was penalized by Monmouth Park stewards for using his whip eight times, two over the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority limit, in Journalism’s victory in the Haskell Stakes last Saturday. The jockey will serve a one-day suspension Aug. 1 and pay a $6,000 fine, one-tenth of his share of the Haskell purse, the Daily Racing Form reported.
• Breeders’ Cup prospects watch: Book’em Danno and jockey Paco Lopez pulled away from Mullikin by 2 ½ lengths at $4.80 in the 6-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga on Saturday, earning a 111 Beyer speed figure to match the highest anywhere in 2025. The 4-year-old New Jersey-bred gelding rose to No. 9 in the NTRA rankings. Book’em Danno’s performance made a case for trainer Derek Ryan to target the Sprint instead of the Dirt Mile at the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
• The stakes schedule for Saturday’s Sept. 26-Oct. 26 meet features Breeders’ Cup preps Sept. 27-28 and Oct. 4. Two name changes are notable: The Grade I race for older males Sept. 27 goes back to its long-ago name, the Goodwood, after being the California Crown in 2024 and the Awesome Again before that; a downhill turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies Sept. 27 becomes the John C. Harris, honoring the late California owner-breeder, after being the Unzip Me.
• Los Alamitos runs the Governor’s Cup Futurity and Derby, among eight stakes for Cal-bred quarter horses, on California Breeders Champions Night on Saturday.
— Kevin Modesti
Originally Published:
