Stellar Wind, Vale Dori Face Off Again in Hirsch

A week and a day after his horse provided the shock of the year at Del Mar, owner Kosta Hronis will be in an entirely different situation July 30 at the racetrack by the beach.

Unlike the TVG San Diego Handicap (G2), when Hronis, trainer John Sadler, and jockey Victor Espinoza upset Arrogate with Accelerate, the connections will occupy the pre-race spotlight in the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) Sunday at Del Mar.

The green and white silks of Hronis Racing will be aboard the odds-on favorite this time, champion Stellar Wind, in the race she won last year, when she upset 1-9 favorite Beholder. The race will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt.

BALAN: Stellar Wind Upsets Beholder in Hirsch

"Whenever Stellar Wind runs, the expectations are really high," Hronis said. "Last weekened, even though we were running against Aroogate, the best horse in the world, it was more comfortable. If we run a good second or third, it's much easier than having the mare everyone is chasing.

"We're going to feel both sides of it, but this is definitely harder. But it's great. This is what you work for, to have a horse like this."

The 5-year-old Curlin   mare has done nothing but impress in her first two starts of the season. She won outside of California for the first time since joining the Sadler string in the April 14 Apple Blossom (G1) at Oaklawn Park to start her season, then edged fellow Hirsch entrant Vale Dori by a neck in the June 3 Beholder Mile (G1), which was essentially a match race, with champion sprinter Finest City never seriously involved in the three-horse field.

BALAN: Stellar Wind Edges Vale Dori in Beholder Mile

"They're both really good horses and they run well every time, so we're expecting another war," Sadler said of the Hirsch rematch with the Bob Baffert-trained Vale Dori. "We're expecting to stay close to (Vale Dori) and Stellar Wind has been tough in tight finishes."

Hronis said Stellar Wind "bounced out of the Beholder beautifully" and is looking forward to the rematch, not only with Vale Dori but with Baffert, with whom he's developed a sporting friendship. Before the San Diego, while the crowd huddled around Arrogate, Baffert invited Hronis over to get a look at the gray dynamo.

"We've grown to have a great deal of respect for each other," Hronis said. "We enjoy each other's company. We go head to head, but it's been a really positive part of my life to get to know him and his family."

While the respect for the competition is there, Hronis also heaped praise on his own trainer, who has mapped out a campaign of top-level races for Stellar Wind in the lead up for a third crack at the grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff (she finished second in 2015 at Keeneland and fourth in 2016 at Santa Anita Park, but the 2017 edition is at Del Mar, where she is undefeated in two starts).

"John Sadler has her ready," Hronis said. "He has brought her up and trained her from day one. He's handled her brilliantly and we feel really good about her situation right now. We've got a great plan. John has had a great idea and great concept."

From the challenger's standpoint, Vale Dori ran just fine in the Beholder Mile after she took heat from a champion nearly every step of the way. Why not try again?

"She's a filly that's still doing really well and she's healthy, and we're here, so why not take another shot at her?" Baffert said.

Filling out the six-horse field are two more from the Baffert and Sadler barns—Faithfully and Shenandoah Queen, respectively—as well as last-out Churchill Downs optional-claiming allowance winner Motown Lady, who will make her first start for trainer Keith Desormeaux, and three-time graded stakes-placed Autumn Flower.

Clement L. Hirsch S. (G1)

Del Mar, Sunday, July 30, 2017, Race 8

• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:33 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Motown Lady (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	119	J. Keith Desormeaux	12/1
2	2Vale Dori (ARG)	Mike E. Smith	123	Bob Baffert	7/5
3	3Stellar Wind (VA)	Victor Espinoza	123	John W. Sadler	6/5
4	4Autumn Flower (KY)	Martin A. Pedroza	119	Dan L. Hendricks	15/1
98	5Shenandoah Queen (KY)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-
5	6Faithfully (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	119	Bob Baffert	4/1