14-Horse Oceanside Kicks Off Opening Day at Del Mar

Last week, it was Saratoga Race Course's moment in the summer-opening spotlight. Now it's Del Mar's turn.

The San Diego-area track opens before a sellout crowd July 22, with fans eager to take in the beach vibe and quality racing that are an annual summer experience there. The track limited attendance for opening day, as it did last summer and during the Breeders' Cup in the fall.

The stakes schedule is the most lucrative in track history, featuring 34 races and $8.275 million in purses. More than half of the stakes saw purse increases this year for the 31-day summer meet, the 83rd in the track's storied history.

Del Mar's customary opening-day feature, the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes, kicks off the stakes action. A restricted one-mile test on grass for 3-year-olds, the Oceanside is part of the track's program for sophomore grass runners that leads toward the $300,000 Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby (G2T) Sept. 3.

The Del Mar Derby is part of a five-stakes card Sept. 3, topped by the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic (G1), a 1 1/4-mile race expected to lure the unbeaten Flightline , the top-rated horse in North America. Other horses that could potentially run in the Pacific Classic or in its prep, the July 30 San Diego Handicap (G2), include Country Grammar, Express Train , Senor Buscador , Stilleto Boy , There Goes Harvard , and Tripoli .

As part of the Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge Series, the Pacific Classic provides a paid, automatic berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) this fall at Keeneland. Five other races—the July 30 Bing Crosby Stakes (G1), the Aug. 6 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1), the Aug. 27 Pat O'Brien Handicap (G2), the Sept. 3 Del Mar Handicap (G2T), and Sept. 4 Green Flash Handicap (G3T)—qualify horses into different Breeders' Cup races.

The summer at Del Mar tends to bring an influx of equine talent to the state, drawn in part by the track's "Ship & Win" program that provides starter and purse bonuses to out-of-state horses. 

According to racing secretary David Jerkens, a number of stables from the East and Midwest will also send strings of horses out west, including Patrick Biancone, Robertino Diodoro, John Ennis, Jeff Engler, Mike Maker, and Jack Sisterson.

These additions, plus having trainers Bob Baffert and Peter Miller running their stables at full operation, should benefit entries, necessary for Del Mar to sustain field size in largely racing four days a week. After opening week, the track largely operates on a Thursday-Sunday schedule, with exceptions late in the meet due to racing on Labor Day, Sept. 5.

Large fields are the order of the day Friday, with 110 horses entered in 10 races. Another 14 horses are also-eligibles. Entries are usually high on opening day before tapering off as the meet progresses. 

"Winning a race here holds a lot of validity for a lot of people," Jerkens said of the meet.

Tom Robbins, executive vice president of racing and industry relations for Del Mar, said the track seeks to match the 8.5 starters per race it averaged last year.

Del Mar further hopes to sustain its exemplary safety record of recent years. According to The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database, Del Mar had only one equine racing fatality in each of the 2020 and 2021 calendar years, a collective rate of occurrence of just .29 per 1,000 starts. 

"It's a buy-in by owners, trainers, track management, our regulator (the California Horse Racing Board)—we all joined forces," Robbins said in explaining the success.

Balnikhov  and Mackinnon  are two of the more accomplished grass performers in the 14-horse Oceanside.

Balnikhov, trained by Phil D'Amato, was twice second in stakes in the spring, including the American Turf Stakes presented by BMW (G2T) at Churchill Downs May 7, before failing to fire when fourth in the Cinema Stakes in his latest June 4 at Santa Anita Park. He races with blinkers off after adding the equipment in the Cinema.

"I just ran him back too quick off the ship, and the equipment change (blinkers on) I don't think helped. It just made him too keen," said D'Amato.

Comebacking Mackinnon, a stakes winner over the Del Mar course last summer, was third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) last summer. This year he ran fourth in the Jan. 1 Sham Stakes (G3) on dirt and second in the Feb. 12 El Camino Real Derby on synthetic before trainer Doug O'Neill freshened him to await a summer campaign. 

"It's always hard to simulate a race in the mornings, but I think he is ready to get back to the races," said his trainer. "We'll know more Friday afternoon, but he's doing well."

Juan Hernandez, who surged to the top of the Santa Anita winter/spring meet rider standings after Flavien Prat's departure from the California circuit, is in the irons on the rail-drawn Mackinnon. Mackinnon carries high weight of 124 pounds.

Balnikhov tacks 120 pounds and jockey Umberto Rispoli.

Other prominent jockeys riding in the Oceanside and throughout the meet include Tyler Baze, Abel Cedillo, Mike Smith, Diego Herrera, Ramon Vazquez, and Florent Geroux.

Mackinnon, owned by ERJ Racing, Madaket Stables, and Dave Kenney, is named after Nathan MacKinnon of the Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League. MacKinnon's teammate Erik Johnson owns and races horses as ERJ Racing. 

"I think he'll be there opening day. So I'm fired up," O'Neill said of Johnson.

Longtime announcer Trevor Denman will also be back at Del Mar this summer after missing last fall due to injury and all of 2020 due to COVID-19 considerations.

"Santa Anita is beautiful, and we love it, but it's kind of like school," O'Neill said. "Santa Anita ends, and school's off, and the first day of summer starts at Del Mar."

Entries: Oceanside S.

Del Mar, Friday, July 22, 2022, Race 8

• STK
• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 5:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Mackinnon (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	124	Doug F. O'Neill	5/2
2	2Anmer Hall (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	120	Peter Miller	20/1
3	3St Anthony (KY)	Ryan Curatolo	122	Neil D. Drysdale	15/1
4	4Boise (KY)	Brayan Pena	122	Jonathan Wong	15/1
5	5Brit's Wit (KY)	Declan Cannon	120	Dan Blacker	12/1
6	6Castle Leoch (KY)	Mike E. Smith	122	Wesley A. Ward	8/1
7	7Barsabas (KY)	Diego A. Herrera	120	Ryan Hanson	20/1
8	8Balnikhov (IRE)	Umberto Rispoli	120	Philip D'Amato	3/1
9	9Dandy Warhol (IRE)	Tyler Baze	120	Mark Glatt	6/1
10	10Nero Tulip (GB)	Abel Cedillo	120	Peter Eurton	12/1
11	11Royal 'n Rando (CA)	Frank T. Alvarado	122	Steven Specht	20/1
12	12As Amatter of Fact (KY)	Evin A. Roman	120	Jonathan Wong	20/1
13	13Heaven Street (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	124	Brendan P. Walsh	12/1
14	14Sydney Street (GB)	Florent Geroux	120	John W. Sadler	8/1