La Jolla Rivals Challenge Prospect Park Again
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Three familiar runners will try to take down breakthrough La Jolla Handicap (gr. IIIT) winner Prospect Park in the $250,000 Del Mar Derby (gr. IIT) Sept. 6.
The three that followed the Tapit colt in his turf debut at Del Mar—Om, Royal Albert Hall, and Papacoolpapacool—will all return for the Del Mar Derby, which will run at the same 1 1/16 distance on the turf. Prospect Park dusted the La Jolla field by 4 1/4 lengths Aug. 9 and trainer Cliff Sise says the colt owned and bred by Pam and Martin Wygod is doing even better heading into the Del Mar Derby.
BALAN: Prospect Park Takes to Turf in La Jolla 'Cap
"It's the same horses and he's doing better than he was last race," Sise said. "He's looking better, he's gained some weight, and just looks like he's carrying more flesh."
Off as the 7-5 favorite in the La Jolla, K.B. Sareen's speedy Om is hoping to recapture the turf prowess he showed three starts back in May at Santa Anita Park, when he earned an allowance score in his grass debut. Papacoolpapacool has the most turf experience in the field, with a 4-1-1 record from 10 grass starts, including two spring stakes wins at Santa Anita. Although he has four top-three finishes since relocating from England earlier this year, Royal Albert Hall has yet to visit the winner's circle in the U.S.
Soul Driver may not have been in the La Jolla, but he's familiar with some of the Del Mar Derby field. The son of Street Boss defeated Royal Albert Hall by significant margins in his back-to-back stakes wins in the Singletary at Santa Anita in June and the Oceanside on Del Mar's opening day, July 16, but hasn't raced since. Soul Driver also ran third to Papacoolpapacool in the Pasadena Stakes at Santa Anita in March.
New faces include Kretz Racing's Win the Space, a Pulpit colt who broke his maiden last time out over the Del Mar turf and ran sixth behind American Pharoah in the Arkansas Derby (gr. I) at Oaklawn Park in April, and Godolphin's Crittenden, who is shipping in from the Midwest coming out of a fifth-place finish in the Secretariat (gr. IT) at Arlington International Racecourse. In his prior Arlington try, Crittenden was just a neck away from his first graded score in the American Derby (gr. IIIT) July 11.