Instilled Regard Back at Del Mar for Hollywood Derby

A lot has happened since Instilled Regard's second-place debut at Del Mar in September 2017.

He broke his maiden at Santa Anita Park two starts later, placed in the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity (G1), became a contender on the Triple Crown trail with a score in the Lecomte Stakes (G3), and finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).

For his trip back to Del Mar, however, he'll be doing something very different in the $300,000 Hollywood Derby (G1T) Dec. 1, the Arch colt's first start on turf.

Moved to trainer Chad Brown over the summer after eight starts for the California-based Jerry Hollendorfer, OXO Equine's Instilled Regard made his first start off a nearly five-month layoff in the Sept. 22 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) but never did much running and finished last of nine, beaten 25 3/4 lengths by winner McKinzie.

Although Brown doesn't feel Instilled Regard is a poor dirt horse, the try at Parx Racing inspired him to breeze the colt on the grass at Belmont Park.

"He had given me a bit of a feel that he would perform well on the turf when we started training him, and after he ran poorly in the Pennsylvania Derby, it created an opportunity to breeze him on the grass," Brown said. "We tried something new, and he breezed quite well."

So when the chance came up to race in a grade 1 restricted to 3-year-olds late in the year, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"It's the last opportunity to run against your age group for grass horses, and in the last few years we've had success in this race," said Brown, who also sent two-time graded winner Raging Bull west for the Hollywood Derby. Brown won the race with Annals of Time in 2016 and finished second with March in 2015.

A full field of 14 will crowd onto the tight Del Mar turf course, and the Brown duo won't be the only invaders from the East.

Robert Evans' homebred Hill Prince Stakes (G2T) winner Have At It will make his second straight start in California for trainer Christophe Clement after a second-place run to fellow Hollywood Derby entrant and local standout River Boyne in the Nov. 4 Twilight Derby (G2T).

Grade 2-placed Way Early and 38-1 Secretariat Stakes (G1T) victor Carrick will also make the trip to San Diego County.

River Boyne, the 5-2 favorite on the morning line, heads the local contingent after three stakes wins from his last four starts, including the last-out Twilight Derby score and a win in the La Jolla Handicap (G3T) at Del Mar in August. Also returning from the Twilight Derby are Desert Stone (third), Platinum Warrior (fifth), Kazan (sixth), and Pubilius Syrus (ninth).

BALAN: River Boyne Finds Enough to Win Twilight Derby

The lone filly in the race, last-out Sands Point Stakes (G2T) winner Californiagoldrush, could scratch if the Del Mar turf course is too soft, trainer Neil Drysdale said. Del Mar took its races off the turf Nov. 29-30 after a storm hit Southern California Thursday. Drysdale said the Cape Blanco filly's main target is the American Oaks (G1T) Dec. 29 at Santa Anita.

Entries: Hollywood Derby (G1T)

Del Mar, Saturday, December 01, 2018, Race 7

• Grade IT
• 1 1/8m
• Turf
• $300,000
• 3 yo
• 3:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Have At It (KY)	David Cohen	122	Christophe Clement	6/1
2	2Kazan (IRE)	Brice Blanc	122	Simon Callaghan	20/1
3	3Risky Proposition (KY)	Joseph Talamo	122	William Spawr	20/1
4	4River Boyne (IRE)	Flavien Prat	122	Jeff Mullins	5/2
5	5Fight On (KY)	Alonso Quinonez	122	Doug F. O'Neill	20/1
6	6Raging Bull (FR)	Joel Rosario	122	Chad C. Brown	7/2
7	7Instilled Regard (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Chad C. Brown	12/1
8	8Desert Stone (IRE)	Tyler Baze	122	Richard Baltas	8/1
9	9Platinum Warrior (IRE)	Drayden Van Dyke	122	John W. Sadler	12/1
10	10Way Early (NY)	Angel Cruz	122	George Weaver	30/1
11	11Carrick (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	122	Thomas Morley	8/1
12	12Pubilius Syrus (KY)	Edwin A. Maldonado	122	Vladimir Cerin	30/1
13	13Prince Earl (CA)	Tiago Josue Pereira	122	Philip D'Amato	20/1
14	14Californiagoldrush (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	119	Neil D. Drysdale	12/1