Sharp Samurai, Glatt Can Continue Rise in Del Mar Derby

Deep down trainer Mark Glatt knew he was safe, but he had to make sure.

After Sharp Samurai's 9 1/4-length maiden victory for a $75,000 claiming price Feb. 10 going one mile on the dirt at Santa Anita Park, the winner's circle could wait.

"The first place I walked to was that claim box," Glatt said.

Sure enough, after an eighth-place finish in his maiden special weight debut in November of 2016—in which he finished 19 1/4 lengths behind winner Beach Bum—nobody took the $75,000 plunge to take the 3-year-old son of First Samurai , so his trainer could breathe a sigh of relief.

"When a horse runs as bad as he did first time out, you're pretty safe," Glatt said. "As a guy who claims horses, it's a tough sell. If you're telling an owner, 'Here, look at this horse that got beat 15, 20 lengths' for $75,000, you better be right, or you're not going to be working for that owner very long."

Nearly seven months after his maiden win, the gelding owned by Glatt in partnership with Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal has a chance to punctuate a standout summer meet at Del Mar for his trainer in the $250,000 Del Mar Derby (G2T) Sept. 3.

The last-out La Jolla Handicap (G3T) winner has propelled Glatt—along with stablemate Blackjackcat, who won the Del Mar Mile Handicap (G2T)—into a third-place tie with Doug O'Neill and Peter Miller (13 wins entering Thursday) in the Del Mar trainer's standings, with close to half the starters, and just two victories behind leader Phil D'Amato.

BALAN: Sharp Samurai Wins 'Messy' La Jolla

"All his success came after he was gelded (following his debut)," Glatt said. "I always felt in the back of my mind that I would have to geld him, but you just have to run them once or twice to see if he could be a stallion, because that's what I would have preferred.

"But I could tell he wasn't going to focus and run to his ability. He wasn't cheap and wasn't expensive (he was an $85,000 purchase), but we needed to get him going and it's been fairly smooth sailing since."

After his maiden victory came a sixth-place run back on the Santa Anita dirt in an optional-claiming allowance against eventual graded stakes winner and classic-placed Battle of Midway in March.

Sharp Samurai's true "light-bulb" moment may have come the first time he took to the turf.

A bobbled start only temporarily hampered Sharp Samurai en route to a 2 1/4-length allowance victory at Santa Anita April 6. He then won the June 10 Rainbow Stakes and continued to build his résumé with his La Jolla victory. Sharp Samurai's only loss on turf came to fellow Del Mar Derby entrant Bowies Hero in the May 6 Singletary Stakes.

All along, however, Sharp Samurai has walked the line of being competitively rambunctious but not overly aggressive—even after he was gelded.

"He's still a bit of a tough horse," Glatt said. "He's usually on an even keel, but he'll take a shot at you if he gets a chance. You don't want them docile, but you don't want them mean, either."

Bowies Hero won the Oceanside Stakes July 19 to kick off the trio of turf stakes restricted to 3-year-olds at Del Mar this summer, but took the La Jolla off. Agave Racing Stable and Hebert Bloodstock's Artie Schiller  colt is undefeated in two starts on the Del Mar grass, which includes the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes a year ago. The D'Amato trainee's only loss of 2017 came in the Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3T) in June at Belmont Park, where he finished fourth, just 2 3/4 lengths behind the likes of multiple grade 1 winner Oscar Performance and multiple graded winner Good Samaritan.

The only other graded winner in the field is George Krikorian's homebred Big Score, who took the Transylvania Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3T) in April at Keeneland. The Tim Yakteen-trained Mr. Big  colt finished eighth last time out in the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1T) July 8, but has run well on the Del Mar turf in the past. He broke his maiden by 2 3/4 lengths in his debut in July of 2016 and finished second to Bowies Hero in last year's Del Mar Juvenile Turf.

Entries: Del Mar Derby (G2T)

Del Mar, Sunday, September 03, 2017, Race 8

• Grade IIT
• 1 1/8m
• Turf
• $250,000
• 3 yo
• 5:36 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Harbour Master (GB)	Victor Espinoza	122	James M. Cassidy	20/1
2	2Monster Man (KY)	Santiago Gonzalez	122	Scott Hansen	20/1
3	3Bowies Hero (KY)	Tiago Josue Pereira	122	Philip D'Amato	9/2
4	4Marckie's Water (CA)	Corey S. Nakatani	122	Richard Baltas	12/1
5	5Sharp Samurai (KY)	Gary L. Stevens	122	Mark Glatt	7/2
6	6Fashion Business (GB)	Joseph Talamo	122	Philip D'Amato	6/1
7	7Colonist (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	122	Jerry Hollendorfer	6/1
8	8Double Touch (GB)	Tyler Baze	122	Dan Blacker	20/1
9	9Sorry Erik (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	122	J. Keith Desormeaux	6/1
10	10Big Score (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Tim Yakteen	3/1
11	11Ritzy A. P. (KY)	Evin A. Roman	122	Dan Blacker	30/1