Thought Process among the horses to watch in Saturday’s Del Mar Oaks

DEL MAR — For the past two years, bettors seeking inside information on the Grade I Del Mar Oaks needed to look back no farther than the results of the Grade II San Clemente Handicap earlier in the summer meeting to find a winning ticket.

In 2023, Anisette won the San Clemente and returned to win the Del Mar Oaks. Last year, Iscreamuscream not only completed the rare double, she was named Horse of the Meet.

Saturday, Thought Process faces three rivals from the July 19 San Clemente as the 3-year-old daughter of 2017 Pacific Classic champion Collected attempts to be the third straight horse to complete the rare double in the 1 1/8-mile test on the turf for older fillies and mares.

Thought Process won the San Clemente by 1¾ lengths over Casalu with Will Then third. Both those fillies and Miso Phansy (seventh) will again take on Thought Process, who is listed as the morning-line 8-5 favorite in the field of 12. All the fillies from the San Clemente will be going an eighth-mile farther than they did on Del Mar’s opening weekend.

Jockey Umberto Rispoli will be aboard Thought Process, one of two Phil D’Amato-trained fillies in the race.

“Thought Process has always had the big size and scope, but mentally I think she’s even stronger now,” said D’Amato. “She’s matured. That’s what you hope for with all your 2-year-olds.”

The field will include two invaders — Take A Breath, an English-bred making her first American start for trainer Mark Glatt; and Lush Lips, winner of the $200,000 Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs.

In Friday’s even longer feature for older fillies and mares on the turf, Hector Berrios rode Alpha Bella to a wire-to-wire victory in the $100,000 CTT and TOC stakes at 1 3/8 miles.

Alpha Bella ($11.40) took the lead out of the gate and held off challenges from three different horses around three turns, pulling away in the stretch to win by 2¾ lengths over Starry Heavens (Antonio Fresu) with even-money favorite Mrs. Astor (Rispoli) third after being turned back by the winner at the top of the stretch.

The slow pace seemed to work to Alpha Bella’s favor.

“I told Hector, if you get the lead, just milk it out there,” said Juan Leyva, the assistant to trainer John Sadler. “I thought it would be an oddly run race because there were only a few speed horses in there and they were coming from the same barn (Phil D’Amato’s). So, I didn’t think they were going to try to kill each other off. It kind of worked out the way I thought it was going to.”

Said Berrios: “I know she had space in the race. I just waited and waited. Then at the half mile, I asked her and she responded.”

Mrs. Astor ran comfortably in third in the 10-horse field for most of the distance while saving ground along the rail. She made her move on the far turn, moving into second while looking to challenge Alpha Bella. But the winner pulled away and Starry Heavens overtook the favorite near the finish.

It was the second win of the day for the Berrios-Sadler combination. They also won with Tennesseehoneybee ($3.20) in the second. Berrios scored a third win Friday with Nesso’s Lastharrah (in the finale of the eight-race program. Nesso’s Lastharrah was also trainer Peter Eurton’s second winner. Andy Mathis was a third trainer with two wins.

Notable

Jockey Christobal Herrera and trainer Marcia Stortz both scored their first Del Mar wins with 20-1 longshot Mia Mac in Thursday’s fourth race. Herrera and Stortz both formerly campaigned in Northern California.

• Aguila Azul broke free before the fifth race and did 1½ laps of the track before being brought under control without injury by outriders.