Quality Field to Contest Del Mar Handicap

Multiple graded stakes winners Ashleyluvssugar, Flamboyant, and Finnegans Wake will take the logical step forward on the Del Mar turf schedule for a run in the Del Mar Handicap (gr. IIT) Aug. 20, following a tightly contested finish in the Eddie Read (gr. IIT) July 17.

In the Eddie Read won by Midnight Storm, less than a length separated the top four finishers. Ashleyluvssugar checked in a half-length behind the winner and Flamboyant was just a neck back in third, while Finnegans Wake closed from last in the nine-horse field to finish fifth.

BALAN: Midnight Storm Game in Eddie Read Win

Each of the trio has proven to have the talent to win at this level, but Flamboyant is the only one with a graded victory in 2016. The Peer Gynt gelding won the San Gabriel (gr. IIT) and San Marcos (gr. IIT) back-to-back early in the year before he finished fifth in the Dubai Turf (UAE-I) and then tackled the Eddie Read for trainer Patrick Gallagher.

Ashleyluvssugar and Finnegans Wake both have to look back to May of 2015 for their last graded victories. Ashleyluvssugar took the Charles Whittingham (gr. IIT) and Finnegans Wake won the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (gr. IT).

Patentar (sixth) and Texas Ryano (seventh) also return from the Eddie Read, but intriguing new faces could provide a challenge for the top runners.

One of those new faces is Metaboss, the 2015 El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) winner. The Street Boss   colt took a year off following surgery to remove an ankle chip, but could not find his footing early in the year after relocating to Maryland with trainer Michael Dickinson. Metaboss is winless in three Maryland starts this spring, but succeeded in his first start back in California July 23 at Del Mar, where he won an allowance race for new trainer Phil D'Amato.

"We're taking a shot," said D'Amato, who is seeking a third straight Del Mar Handicap victory after back-to-back scores with Big John B in 2014-15. "Usually, turf courses like this lend themselves to horses with his kind of style. He's the one-run type that can kind of cruise along and then kick it in the last quarter. ... Before I even asked him (jockey) Rafael Bejarano said, 'This horse will run all day.' So we put our heads together and came up with the Del Mar Handicap."

Also in the field is Express Himself, who will be making his first U.S. start for trainer John Sadler. The Dylan Thomas gelding accumulated a 4-3-5 record from 21 starts in England.

Completing the field is multiple graded winner Quick Casablanca, multiple graded stakes-placed Power Foot, East Coast allowance winner Belisarius, last-out allowance winner Wanstead Gardens, and California-bred stakes winner El Huerfano.