ERJ Racing, Westside Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, Gary Barber, and Dave Kenney's Schuylerville Stakes (G3) winner Comical heads a field of six 2-year-old fillies entered in the $200,000 Sorrento Stakes (G2) Aug. 3 as Del Mar's juvenile scene begins to heat up.
The six-furlong Sorrento represents only the second start for the majority of the field, while the Doug O'Neill-trained Comical will be making her third start and has the experience of a cross-country trip to Saratoga Race Course and a graded victory to boot.
Comical, a daughter of Into Mischief , sat just off the pace in the six-furlong Schuylerville July 11 before gutting out a neck victory on a muddy track over Kiss the Girl. That effort followed a six-length win on debut May 26 at Santa Anita Park, and Saturday she'll start off just more than three weeks' rest.
"She's doing really well, and I think she's getting better all the time," said Leandro Mora, O'Neill's top assistant. "We're going to put the same equipment back on her that we had the first time, the shadow roll. We didn't put the shadow roll on at Saratoga because it was pouring and the shadow roll absorbs too much weight."
Comical will break from the rail with East Coast-based jockey Julien Leparoux aboard.
WinStar Farm's freshman stallions Commissioner , Constitution , and Daredevil will be represented in the Sorrento.
Exline-Border Racing, Robin Christensen, Steve Dorfman, Dan Hudock, and Susanna Wilson's Powerfulattraction, an Arkansas-bred filly by Commissioner, is the most expensive filly in the field having cost $225,000 from Wavertree Stables' consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The Peter Eurton trainee debuted June 29 at Los Alamitos Race Course and rallied to a 1 1/4-length victory going five furlongs.
Simon Callaghan will saddle Doug Branham and Marsha Naify's Amalfi Sunrise (Constitution) and Glencrest Farm and Qatar Racing's Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil). Amalfi Sunrise scored at 4 1/2 furlongs June 23 at Santa Anita, making a quick move from just off the pace to win by 6 1/4 lengths. Shedaresthedevil is the winner of a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight at Churchill Downs, where she got up to win by 3 1/4 lengths June 13 for previous trainer Norm Casse.
Amalfi Sunrise was a $185,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training when consigned by Bobby Dodd.
Completing the field are Susan Derby and Gary Folgner's Princess Mo, third behind Amalfi Sunrise in her debut, and Aaron Pewtherer's Shanghai Keely, who scored by 6 3/4 lengths going five furlongs at Pleasanton July 4.
Del Mar, Saturday, August 03, 2019, Race 5Entries: Sorrento S. (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Comical (KY)
Julien R. Leparoux
123
Doug F. O'Neill
2/1
2
2Powerfulattraction (AR)
Joseph Talamo
118
Peter Eurton
5/1
3
3Amalfi Sunrise (KY)
Norberto Arroyo, Jr.
120
Simon Callaghan
8/5
4
4Shedaresthedevil (KY)
Drayden Van Dyke
123
Simon Callaghan
3/1
5
5Princess Mo (KY)
Geovanni Franco
118
Ruben Gomez
20/1
6
6Shanghai Keely (KY)
Irving Orozco
118
Ari Herbertson
10/1