Del Mar Opens 80th Summer Season with Oceanside Stakes

Forty stakes races worth over $7.3 million are on tap for Del Mar's 80th summer season, which opens July 17 with the $100,000 Runhappy Oceanside Stakes headlining a 10-race card.

The seaside oval will host a total of 22 graded events—six grade 1s, 11 grade 2s, and five grade 3s—highlighted by the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1), a 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Challenge series race Aug. 17 that gives the winner free entry to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

The Oceanside, a one-mile contest for 3-year-olds on the Jimmy Durante turf course, is the first of three in Del Mar's stakes series for sophomore turf horses. It is followed by the 1 1/16-mile La Jolla Handicap (G3T) Aug. 4 and the 1 1/8-mile Del Mar Derby (G2T) Sept. 1.

Wednesday's feature is restricted to 3-year-olds who have yet to win a sweepstakes with a $50,000 winner's share at a mile or over this year. Del Secco DCS Racing's King of Speed, who won on this course and distance at 2, was assigned the high weight of 124 pounds.

At the end of Del Mar's 2018 summer meet, King of Speed rallied to a 15-1 upset in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes. He followed that effort with another victory in the Zuma Beach Stakes back at Santa Anita Park before finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).

The Jimmy Creed  colt trained by Jeff Bonde finished off the board three more times before his most recent start June 2 at Santa Anita, when he went to the lead in the 1 1/8-mile Cinema Stakes and held for third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths.

Coming off a one-mile allowance victory May 27 at Santa Anita is Hronis Racing's Irish import Jasikan. In his first stateside start for trainer John Sadler, the Bated Breath colt got up for third to lose by only a length in the April 28 Singletary Stakes. 

Slam Dunk Racing and Michael Nentwig have two other European imports in the Oceanside: Rijeka and lightly raced Gregorian Chant, who is co-owned by Old Bones Racing Stable.

Rijeka was third in the Zuma Beach last fall and second in both the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) and Eddie Logan Stakes. He has an allowance victory from three starts this year and was seventh in the Singletary after steadying at the eighth pole.

Gregorian Chant, who won his first two starts, was fourth in the Cinema and makes his fourth start Wednesday.

Kenwood Racing and Richard Robertson's More Ice, who is stakes-placed on the turf and Golden Gate Fields' synthetic track, will be saddled by Dan Ward, a recent assistant to Jerry Hollendorfer who took out his trainer's license for Del Mar's meet.

More Ice was trained by Hollendorfer, who was previously listed as a co-owner of the More Than Ready  colt, but the Hall of Fame conditioner was not assigned stalls at Del Mar.

The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and Golden Gate, ruled Hollendorfer off its grounds last month. Thirty horses were fatally injured during racing or training at Santa Anita's recent meet, which ran Dec. 26-June 23. Four of those horses were trained by Hollendorfer.

The New York Racing Association initially announced it planned to honor its stall agreement with Hollendorfer after TSG's ban, then told Hollendorfer his entries at NYRA tracks would not be allowed to run. Don Chatlos, also a recent assistant, is now training the horses who were listed under Hollendorfer in New York.

Del Mar will conduct live racing on a Wednesday-through-Sunday basis until the meet closes Labor Day, Sept. 2. First post will be at 2 p.m. PT every race day except on Four 'o Clock Fridays, when racing starts at 4 p.m. PT.

Entries: Runhappy Oceanside S.

Del Mar, Wednesday, July 17, 2019, Race 8

• STK
• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 5:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	Manhattan Up (KY)	Tiago Josue Pereira	120	Philip A. Oviedo	-
2	Roger That (GB)	Martin Garcia	118	Matthew Chew	-
3	Jasikan (IRE)	Flavien Prat	122	John W. Sadler	-
4	Legends of War (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	118	Doug F. O'Neill	-
5	King of Speed (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	124	Jeff Bonde	-
6	City Rage (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	118	Mark Glatt	-
7	More Ice (FL)	Norberto Arroyo, Jr.	122	Dan Ward	-
8	Gregorian Chant (GB)	Geovanni Franco	122	Philip D'Amato	-
9	Rijeka (IRE)	Ruben Fuentes	122	Richard Baltas	-
10	Nolde (KY)	Victor Espinoza	122	John A. Shirreffs	-
11	Golden Birthday (CA)	Joseph Talamo	118	James M. Cassidy	-
12	Synthesis (KY)	Mario Gutierrez	118	George Papaprodromou	-