Bing Crosby season bringing ‘a more relaxed pace’ to Del Mar

DEL MAR – The tourists of summer are gone. The excitement of the Breeders’ Cup is over.

The halcyon vibe of Del Mar’s Bing Crosby meet is quite different from the intense and fast-paced days of the featured summer session and last weekend’s fourth Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar in nine years.

The fall crowds are much smaller, but with a higher percentage of dedicated horseplayers. There are fewer horses on the grounds and the fields tend to be smaller. And because the sun sets earlier, it’s a shorter day with fewer races.

But there are races and winners. And the 12th annual Fall meeting will end Nov. 28-30 with the Turf Festival – three days of high stakes racing on the grass that draws leading horses from the east because the turf has gone dormant at most other tracks in the nation.

“The fall meet, even in the mornings, has a more relaxed pace than the busy summer season,” said track president Josh Rubinstein. “This is a ‘locals meeting.’ It is an ideal time to enjoy Del Mar in a comfortable setting.”

“I love Del Mar in the fall,” said former meet champion trainer Peter Miller. “From a training standpoint, Del Mar in the fall is the best surface we have among the three Southern California tracks. The track holds the water better with the cooler temperatures and cooler days. And we have more of a marine layer and fog.

“The horses love the weather and track conditions. And it’s quieter. Both the trainers and horses love that. It’s calmer and the work days are shorter.”

“The first thing you notice about the fall meeting is how quiet it is,” said Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens. “It’s more relaxed.”

During the summer, there will be more than 1,900 horses in Del Mar’s barns. During the fall, the equine population is around 400. Many trainers van their entries in from Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and San Luis Rey Downs for the three-day race weekends – although Del Mar is the only track offering turf training at this time of the year.

“We do have quite a few individuals who quite honestly enjoy being here in the fall,” said Jerkens. “They like having a racetrack essentially to themselves. It’s challenging in some aspects. But as long as the weather cooperates, we should have a good meet.”

Among the name trainers who are Del Mar regulars in the fall are defending champion Mark Glatt; former champions Miller (four times), Phil D’Amato (three), Richard Baltas (two) and Doug O’Neill (one), plus John Shirreffs, George Papaprodromou, Bob Hess and Richard Mandella.

Keep Smilin

Heavy favorite Grand Slam Smile overtook and pulled away from 11-1 longshot Issa Court in the stretch Sunday to win the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes for older Cal-bred fillies and mares by 1¼ lengths.

Ridden by William Antongeorgi III, Grand Slam Smile went off as the 3-5 favorite in the field of seven for the seven-furlong race on the main track. The 4-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger stalked Issa Court from the outside for most of the distance before taking over in the stretch. Issa Court (Hector Berrios) finished second, 4¾ lengths ahead of No Cap.

Grand Slam Smile has three wins and two seconds this season under Antongeorgi, who previously rode on the now defunct Northern California circuit. Sneaker, which had a win and a second earlier this year in two previous duels with Grand Slam Smile, finished last in her first race on the dirt.

“She is pretty push button,” Antogeorgi said of Grand Slam Smile. “She bottles that energy up and when the gates open she gives it her all. You just have to contain it and wait for the right move.”

“This filly is just so game,” trainer Sean McCarthy said of the winner. “She cruised along nice on the backstretch. I told Billy to just give me a nice half-mile pace and he did.”

Notable

• Mirco Demuro, who struggled last summer during his first Del Mar meet, had three wins Sunday – Maniae ($11.80) in the fourth, Maniatic ($9) in the sixth and favored No Other Like You ($4.40) in the ninth – to give him eight wins for the fall and the lead in the jockey standings. O’Neill, John Sadler and Papaprodromou are tied for the trainer lead with five wins apiece.
• For the second straight day, fog disrupted the morning workouts at Del Mar. Some trainers worked horses, but there were no official times on the main track. The fog lifted around 9 a.m. and 20 horses scheduled for turf work got on the track.
• Kopion, who ran fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint against males after finishing second in the Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar last summer, has been retired to breed at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. Kopion’s five wins in 10 career starts include the Grade Is La Brea at Santa Anita and Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs.
• Collected, the winner of the 2017 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, and a leading sire has been relocated from Kentucky to Rancho San Miguel in San Luis Obispo – a move seen as a boost to California’s Thoroughbred breeding industry.