DEL MAR LEADERS
(Through Thursday)
JOCKEYS / WINS
Juan Hernandez / 19
Flavien Prat / 12
Antonio Fresu / 8
Kyle Frey / 6
Umberto Rispoli / 6
TRAINERS / WINS
Philip D’Amato / 11
Bob Baffert / 8
Peter Miller / 7
Robert Hess, Jr. / 5
Doug O’Neill / 5
WEEKEND STAKES AT DEL MAR
Saturday
• $300,000 Grade I Hollywood Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles (turf)
• $100,000 Grade III Jimmy Durante Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile (turf)
Sunday
• $300,000 Grade I Matriarch Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf)
• $100,000 Grade III Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, 2-year-olds, 1 mile (turf)
• $100,000 Stormy Liberal Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 5 furlongs (turf)
DOWN THE STRETCH
• In addition to out-of-town trainers sending their horses to Del Mar this weekend, several top jockeys who don’t normally ride in Southern California will be making the trip west. Irad Ortiz, Jr., Joel Rosario, Tyler Gaffalione, Jamie Spencer, Luis Saez and Alex Achard have mounts on Saturday and/or Sunday. Rosario, represented by super agent Ron Anderson, is scheduled to ride in all four Turf Festival races this weekend.
• The Hollywood Derby drew a field of nine, highlighted by the Chad Brown-trained Program Trading, the 9-5 morning-line favorite who will be ridden by Flavien Prat. Brown will also send out Redistricting, with Rosario aboard. Mark Casse’s Webslinger, who’ll be ridden by Gaffalione, is the 3-1 second choice. Program Trading has won three of four starts. His only loss was a runner-up finish in the Grade III Virginia Derby on Sept. 9.
• Twelve were entered for the Matriarch Stakes, a 1-mile test on the grass for older fillies and mares. Brown plans to send out a quartet – Surge Capacity (Rosario), Whitebeam (Prat), Beaute Cachee (Umberto Rispoli) and Fluffy Socks (Ortiz). Brown won the past two runnings of the Matriarch with Regal Glory, who was retired after winning last year’s running by 5¼ lengths. The daughter of Animal Kingdom won the 2021 edition by 2¼ lengths.
— Art Wilson
