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The Stick Horse Racing dot Com is a long time friend of Del Mar Racetrack's publicity department and the many Fans we have at Del Mar. Our Own Champagne Joe gave our hats and shirts to fans at his handicapping seminar last year. Here is the update on this years RACING and Music Series which is scheduled during racing season ..... Story by Mary Shepardson - Del Mar Publicity Dept.
*Note - If you turn on your sound and speakers, you should hear pleasant Stick News Music in this article !* 7/20/05 - Del Mar, California The following article is a Del Mar publicity department story. It was sent to www.TheStickHorseRacing.Com for immediate release to the fans. The comments and news contained in this headline are those of the author's, and should not be considered to be the shared view or opinion of the owner of staff of www.TheStickHorseRacing.Com *Del Mar Stable Notes for First Week opening ! 7/20/05 *Article #1 - Del Mar Facts and Figures - Racing Information *Article #2 - Del Mar's FREE Concert Series ! *Article #3 - Third Story about a new Steward at Del Mar below second article. *Article #4 - Del Mar's Special Turf course ! below third article. Stable Note 7/20 - MULLINS PAIR, PREACHINATTHEBAR FINISH WORK FOR BIG RACES Castledale and Choctaw Nation, possible favorites for the Grade I, $400,000 Eddie Read Handicap and the Grade II, $250,000 San Diego Handicap on Sunday at Del Mar, and Preachinatthebar, also scheduled for the San Diego, have completed their serious work toward those two stakes. The Read will be run at 1 1/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course and the San Diego will be at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. The Jeff Mullins trainees worked Monday in tandem at Santa Anita and each posted a time of 1:00.40 for 5 furlongs, with Castledale's work listed as handily and Choctaw Nation as breezing. Mullins said Tuesday morning at his Del Mar barn that the two horses started off together and finished together. Patrice Roux was aboard the 4-year-old Castledale and Joe Vaca was in the irons on Choctaw Nation, who will be defending his 2004 San Diego win. Preachinatthebar, with regular work rider Dana Barnes up, sped 5 furlongs over the Del Mar main track Tuesday morning in a sizzling 58.40. The 4-year-old son of 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm has won his most recent two outings for owner Mike Pegram and trainer Bob Baffert. Also working at Santa Anita Monday was Avanti Avanti, scheduled to run in the first division of Wednesday's opening-day grass stakes feature, the Oceanside Stakes. The 3-year-old son of Royal Academy posted a 4-furlong time of 47.40 for trainer Ron McAnally. Unfurl the Flag, trained by David Bernstein and a leading prospect for the Grade I, $300,000 Bing Crosby Handicap Sunday, July 31, breezed a half-mile at Santa Anita on Monday in a smart 47.80. Bernstein earmarked the Crosby for his sprinter following the horse's victory in Hollywood Park's Triple Bend Breeders' Cup Handicap. FORMER TRAINER JOSE SILVA RETURNS TO LIFE AT THE TRACK Proving again that once bitten by the horse racing bug a person should never be shy about returning, Jose Silva, for many years a fixture on the backstretch of Southern California racetracks, has returned to his first love - training racehorses. Silva left the business three years ago, but expects to have at least 10 horses in his Del Mar barn by week's end. And he expects to be prominent in the entries as the season rolls along. While away from the track, Silva worked in construction in Baja California in a company he co-owned. "Horses are more important than anything to me," Silva said. GIACOMO DOING HIS REHAB AT JOHN SHIRREFFS DEL MAR BARN Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, trained by John Shirreffs for owners Jerome and Ann Moss, is a walker instead of a runner these days, rehabilitating from arthroscopic surgery to remove bone chips from both forelegs following the Belmont Stakes. The big gray was walking the Shirreffs' tow ring Tuesday morning as he continues to recuperate and prepare for a possible return to racing near the end of the year. SOUTHERN IMAGE SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE AT DEL MAR TUESDAY Trainer Mike Machowsky was preparing to greet his "big horse," Southern Image, late Tuesday morning following a van trip from Santa Anita. Machowsky remains hopeful that the 2004 Santa Anita Handicap and Pimlico Special winner will be able to make Del Mar's Grade I, $1-million Pacific Classic Sunday, August 21. "His feet have been fine for quite awhile now," Machowsky said, "but I missed a little time with him because of his back problems. We're hoping to get him to the Pacific Classic." Article #1 - FACTS AND FIGURES - FANS AWAIT CALL TO THE POST FOR 66TH DEL MAR RACE MEETING The horses are ready. The owners, trainers and jockeys are ready. And, certainly, the fans are ready. All that needs to happen now is for the recorded Bing Crosby to once again croon his invitation to come for another season of racetrack thrills "where the turf meets the surf down at old Del Mar." The summer racing-place-to-be opens its 66th season Wednesday and all concerned are convinced this will be yet another 43 days filled with the excitement and pageantry that always mark the seven-week meet at the historic seaside racetrack about 20 miles north of San Diego and 100 miles south of Los Angeles. In addition, this year there are three changes that will enhance the always-anticipated schedule of stakes races for a record outlay of $6,775,000. The track, operated by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, will offer racing six days a week through Wednesday, September 7, with no racing on Tuesdays. As usual, Del Mar's signature race, the $1-million, Grade I Pacific Classic, scheduled for Sunday, August 21 at 1 1/4 miles, will shine brightest of all. Headliners expected for the 10-furlong race include Hollywood Gold Cup winner Lava Man; Southern Image, 2004 winner of the Santa Anita Handicap and Pimlico Special who is returning after being on the shelf with foot problems for more than a year; Perfect Drift, last year's Pacific Classic runner-up; the multiple stakes-winning Congrats; Choctaw Nation, who finished fourth in last year's Pacific Classic; and possibly 3-year-old Surf Cat, the impressive winner of this year's Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. Fans might get a Pacific Classic preview on the meet's opening Sunday as both Southern Image and Choctaw Nation are possible for the Grade II, $250,000 San Diego Handicap, a race in which Choctaw Nation upset eventual Pacific Classic champ Pleasantly Perfect in 2004. The San Diego is only one of a half-dozen stakes over the first five days of the meet. Highlighting the first weekend will be the John C. Mabee and the Eddie Read handicaps, both Grade I events at nine furlongs on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course carrying purses of $400,000 each. The Mabee, on Saturday, is for fillies and mares 3 years old and up, and Sunday's Read is for the same age group open to both sexes. Key among the three stakes changes for the season is the increase of $100,000 in purse money and a switch from the main track to the turf course for the Grade II Del Mar Breeders' Cup at one mile. The race, which Del Mar officials hope will draw Breeders' Cup Mile champion Singletary for its September 4 running, will carry a purse of $350,000 and will be run on the grass for the first time in its 19-year history. On that same weekend, Del Mar will offer two full-scale stakes events for 3-year-olds in the Torrey Pines Stakes for fillies and the El Cajon Stakes for all sophomore runners. For the past several years, the races were part of the track's overnight stakes slate but this year they were returned to the track's major stakes roster. Each will carry a $100,000 purse and be run at a mile on the main track, with the Torrey Pines set for Friday, September 2, and the El Cajon the next day. The advent of these stakes for 3-year-olds will serve as a counterpoint for the long-time 3-year-old series on the grass that includes the Grade II San Clemente Stakes (Saturday, July 30) and Grade I Del Mar Oaks (Saturday, August 20) for fillies, and the La Jolla Handicap (Saturday, August 13) and Del Mar Derby (Monday, September 5) that are open but generally draw males. The final change involves the increase in purse money for the track's premier sprint stakes, the Bing Crosby and the Pat O'Brien Breeders' Cup handicaps. The Grade I Crosby, to be run for the 60th time on Sunday, July 31 at 6 furlongs, had its purse increased from $250,000 to $300,000. The Grade II Pat O'Brien is a Breeders' Cup event run at 7 furlongs on Sunday, August 21. Its purse has been increased from $200,000 to $300,000. Opening the season, as it always does, is the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds going a mile on the Durante course on Wednesday. That popular race usually draws so many entrants that it is run in two divisions, as has been the case every year since 1989. Other major events include the Grade III Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday, August 6, a prep for the Grade I Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, August 27; the Grade II Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds on Sunday, August 14, a prep for the Grade II Del Mar Futurity on the meet's closing day, Wednesday, September 7; the Grade II Clement L. Hirsch Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the main track on Sunday, August 7; the Grade II Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on the turf on Sunday, August 28; and the Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares going 6 _ furlongs Friday, August 19. While the horses are the on-track stars, the human side of the equation is a major factor, with trainers and jockeys taking a share of the spotlight. Among the trainers, Doug O'Neill, the hottest conditioner around in terms of victories and titles over the past few years in Southern California, will be gearing up to defend his 2004 championship at the beach, a season in which he unseated perennial Del Mar leader Bob Baffert after seven straight years at the top. While Baffert finished third behind O'Neill and Jeff Mullins in 2004, the silver-haired Arizona native still moved up on the all-time list of stakes winners, passing Ron McAnally to go into second place with 70 victories. That leaves him only four shy of Charlie Whittingham's all-time standard of 74 stakes triumphs. Joining that leading trio will be a quintet of Hall of Famers in McAnally, Del Mar's winningest trainer; Robert Frankel, Neil Drysdale, Richard Mandella and Jack Van Berg. Corey Nakatani will be back to defend his riding title as well as pursue a fourth such honor at the seashore. His 54 wins in 2004 were the most by a rider since Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux's 67 in 1993. Joining that pair will be another Hall of Famer, Mike Smith; Alex Solis, who survived a frightening spill on Del Mar's third racing day last year that kept him on the sidelines with a spinal injury until early this year; five-time Del Mar riding champion Patrick Valenzuela; Garrett Gomez, coming off the riding crown at Hollywood Park; Victor Espinoza, David Flores and Tyler Baze. The equine and human athletes will share attention on opening day with the fashion mavens as the popular "One and Only Truly Fabulous Hats Contest" features a parade to the post of millinery ranging from the most spectacular to the wackiest. Other special events during the meet include "Daybreak at Del Mar," "Four O'Clock Fridays," "Donuts at Del Mar," a microbrew and chili cook-off festival, a reggae festival and the popular closing-night "Party in the Paddock." Normal post time is 2 p.m., with the exception of Fridays and the 1 p.m. post time on Pacific Classic day. For the most part, eight races are slated for weekdays with 10 on Saturdays and nine on Sundays. FACTS AND FIGURES FOR DEL MAR'S 66TH SUMMER SEASON DATES: Wednesday, July 20, through Wednesday, September 7; 43 days of racing; dark on Tuesdays. LOCATION: At the fairgrounds in Del Mar, west of Interstate 5, 20 miles north of San Diego and approximately 100 miles south of Los Angeles. POST TIMES: First race 2 p.m., except on Fridays when racing begins at 4 p.m. on July 22 and 29 and August 5 and 12, and 3:30 p.m. on August 19 and 26 and September 2; and at 1 p.m. on Pacific Classic Day, Sunday, August 21. HIGHLIGHTS: Approximately $23 million in purses, including $6,775,000 in stakes money, topped by these graded events: $1,000,000 Pacific Classic, Grade I, Sunday 8/21
WAGERING: $2 Win, Place and Show; $2 Rolling Double on all races except last; $1 Pick Four on final four races; $1 exacta and $2 Quinella on all races; $2 parlays; $1 Trifecta on all races with at least six betting interests; .10¢ Superfectas on all races with at least eight betting interests; $1 Rolling Pick Three starting with the first race; $2 Pick Six on last six races of the day; $1 Place Pick All. Early Bird wagering is offered on track only from 8-10 a.m. on all days except Fridays, when it is conducted from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. PRICES: Admission to Stretch Run (includes Infield) $5/Clubhouse $8 (all paid admissions receive a free program, a $2 value); Admission to Stretch Run for active military with ID is free any day; Senior citizens admission (62 and up) $3 weekdays only; Stretch Run reserved seat and Clubhouse reserved seat $5 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday; same seats cost $8 Friday, and $10 Saturday, Sunday; General parking $5, Early Bird $5, Valet $20. INFORMATION - Mailing address: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, P.O. Box 700, Del Mar CA 92014; Telephone: (858) 755-1141; FAX: (858) 792-1477; Internet address: http://www.delmarracing.com. TICKET OFFICE - (858) 792-4242; hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Monday; 9 a.m. to noon, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday. Article #2 - DEL MAR'S POPULAR FOUR O'CLOCK FRIDAYS SET TO ROCK 'N' ROLL One of the most popular fan favorites of the Del Mar racing season - the Four O'Clock Friday free concerts - is back for its 12th season with another stellar cast to get fans jumping after the day's races. The 43-day racing season begins July 20 and runs through September 7. The concerts begin each Friday between 7 and 7:30 p.m. in the historic Plaza de Mexico just inside the main gate to the Stretch Run section of the track. The series is presented by Jack Daniel's in cooperation with the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. As in the past, San Diego's top alternative radio station - 91X - will be the media partner for the series. Over the years, the racetrack has been known for attracting some of the best and brightest artists available. Among those standouts are such heavy hitters as Jack Johnson, Hoobastank and Switchfoot. Headlining this summer's seven-concert series are G Love & Special Sauce, Blues Traveler and Violent Femmes. Getting the rock series rolling on July 22 will be the Philadelphia-based combo G Love & Special Sauce, fronted by Garrett Dutton, otherwise known as G Love. The group will offer an eclectic mix of hip-hop, blues and folk in an effort to get the concert series off to its wildest start ever. The band has made waves with such hits as "Cold Beverage," "Rodeo Clown," "This Ain't Living" and "Baby's Got Sauce." The group recently released its fifth album, "The Taste." Second in line is Super Diamond, a group devoted to making sure that the music of Neil Diamond remains vibrant through the years. The sextet, headed by Diamond sound-alike Randy Cordeiro, who goes by the nickname "The Surreal Neil," will bring its special kind of music on July 29. Cordeiro spent several years carrying on the Diamond tradition on his own before finding five kindred spirits and starting the group, now in its 11th year. This year's concert reprises the group's 2004 appearance. Another repeater is Violent Femmes, who will appear on August 5. Violent Femmes was a big hit while debuting at Del Mar in a Saturday afternoon concert in the infield in 2003. So popular was the group that it came back last year for the seasonal finale to the "Four O'Clock" series. Headlining Violent Femmes are its co-founders, bassist Brian Ritchie and drummer Victor De Lorenzo. Donavon Frankenreiter makes a repeat appearance in the series when he performs August 12 in the fourth of the seven scheduled concerts. Frankenreiter, whose career seems to be following that of Jack Johnson, made an international name for himself as a pro surfer before getting into his guitar and music full time. His debut album, "Donavon Frankenreiter," was released in the spring of 2004, not too long before his first "Four O'Clock Friday" appearance. The San Diego-based rock band Louis XIV makes its Del Mar stage debut on August 19. Formed in 2003, Louis XIV has burst onto the musical stage in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The success of Louis XIV's latest album, "The Best Little Secrets Are Kept," has placed them on the map and the band will wrap up its semi-global tour in its hometown this summer. Blues Traveler will be featured on the season's penultimate concert date, August 26. The New York-based blues-rock quartet will be making its debut on the "Four O'Clock Friday" schedule. The group's 1995 hit single, "Run-Around," spent nearly a year on the charts and sent Blues Traveler's fourth album, "Four," to quintuple platinum status. The final concert of the series will be surprise special guests who will be announced at a later date. In addition to the Friday night concerts, Del Mar music fans will get two Saturday concerts in the track's infield during special festival celebrations. Cake will perform August 13 at the Microbrew Festival presented by Coors Light, and Ziggy Marley and Common Sense will hold forth on August 27's Reggae Festival presented by Heineken. Article #3 - DEL MAR'S NEWEST STATE STEWARD COMING HOME TO WORK Life is about to come full circle for Kim Sawyer, Del Mar's newest state steward. She begins work at the seashore in earnest when starter Gary Brinson springs the latch for the first race on opening day, Wednesday, July 20. That will bring the California native home from a life journey that has seen her live, train horses and work in the racing office and stewards' stand at Thistledown Racecourse in North Randall, Ohio, 10 miles from Cleveland. She became a Thistledown steward in 2001, the first woman to serve in that post at the track and only the second female steward in the state of Ohio. "This will be a real homecoming for me," Sawyer said cheerily during a telephone interview from her steward's perch at Thistledown. "I'm very excited about the opportunity and eager to get to work." Spending her early years in Hemet, California, as a member of a horse-centered family, Sawyer built the foundation that would lead to a racetrack life. That life - which started with show horses -- has included the backstretch work that defines any neophyte's beginnings, a two-year jockey career, work as an assistant trainer to her mother, Patricia Sawyer, and training on her own. The family's first runners were Quarter Horses owned by her father, a United Airlines pilot who was killed in a 1960 mid-air collision over New York City. Eddie Moreno trained for the Sawyers prior to turning over the training reins to his nephew, Henry Moreno. At one point, Patricia Sawyer was a co-owner with Henry Moreno of the stakes winning Thoroughbred mare, Jalousie II, victress in the 1964 Ramona Handicap. The South America bred gave the veteran conditioner his first stakes victory "where the turf meets the surf." Of Sawyer's appointment, Moreno said, "They couldn't have made a better choice. She's knowledgeable, experienced and honest. The horsemen will like her because she has been a jockey, a trainer and knows the racing business." Following the father's death, Sawyer's mother, an accomplished horsewoman, decided to begin training the family's racing stock. She turned to Thoroughbreds in the early 1970s, racing mostly in the East and Midwest. Kim Sawyer, after a two-year stint as a jockey, joined her mother as an assistant trainer, prior to opening her own stable later in the 1970s. On her own, Kim Sawyer trained several horses for her mother, who would buy runners in California and send them to her daughter in Ohio. In 1981, she saddled Hesnostopper to 10 victories and recognition as the year's top claiming horse. Kim Sawyer remembers that her first ride as a jockey came at Ferndale on the Northern California fair circuit and her first victory at Fresno. The Del Mar steward's post for Sawyer will mean she'll be surrounded by family once again. Her son, Randy Wilson, lives in Santa Monica, and her daughter, Kandace Wilson, lives in Redondo Beach. Her mother and her sister, Robin Burkel, both live in Hemet. "My mom lives on 10 acres in Hemet," Sawyer said, "with a couple of horses in the backyard to keep her happy." ARTICLE #4 - NEW GRASS FIGURES TO STAY THE COURSE FOR DEL MAR SEASON With a tip of the hat to international golfing star Greg Norman, Del Mar racing fans can look forward to a different kind of grass growing beneath turf runners' feet this season. The track's 43-day meeting opens next Wednesday and the Jimmy Durante Turf Course will be tested right from the beginning with the usual opening-day feature, the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes at a mile on the green. What's more, if tradition holds, the Oceanside will be split into divisions, and there's a turf allowance race for "non-winners of two" that figures to fill, so the course is likely to get broken in quickly. Leif Dickinson, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's chief agronomist and keeper of the turf course, is careful to point out that racing fans aren't going to see a new turf layout, per se, but they will see a new surface in the form of GN-1 Bermuda grass throughout the oval. The GN stands for Greg Norman, who has evolved from champion golfer into a turf business entrepreneur. Dickinson believes this new Bermuda, the first grass patented by Australian Norman and developed and grown in Camarillo, Calif., will make the Del Mar course stronger and safer. It was selected, Dickinson said, "because of its ability to grow well in our coastal conditions, which a lot of Bermudas will not do, mainly because it doesn't get warm enough. "Bermuda likes the heat, and that kind of Bermuda does OK here, but it doesn't put on the cushion, the biomass, that we need for horse racing." Dickinson pointed out that a lot of sports turf applications, such as for baseball, football and soccer, are designed to get the ball to roll farther and for athletes to run faster. For racing, he said, "We want thatch, we want biomass, we want a lot of things they're trying to eliminate in those sports. We don't want the horses to run faster. We're trying to put on that cushion element. This grass seems to do that in this climate better than other Bermudas we looked at." Most Bermuda grass tracks are fast and firm, but that's not what Dickinson wants. "We want it [the turf] to hold up," he said, " but we want all horses to finish well, the times to be moderate and everyone to come back safe." Dickinson and his crew wasted no time in getting started on the new grass surface, beginning on September 9, 2004, the day following the end of the meet. "We did a little light grading and stripped off the old Kikuyu and common Bermuda mix everywhere but in the chute," Dickinson said. "The only portion of the chute we replaced was where the horses make that hard left-hand turn coming out of there." The GN-1 Bermuda was put to the test during the 2004 racing season as part of a 2003 project designed to come up with the best possible surface and passed with flying colors. It was installed on the homestretch from the mouth of the chute to the 7-furlong pole. "We liked the way that performed, so we wound up replacing about six acres of the eight-acre track, making the whole turf oval proper GN-1." Other types of grasses were used in other areas of the track during the same project, but the GN-1 fared best. The preceding articles come to our web site directly from the publicity department at Del Mar care of Mary Shepardson. Thank You Mary and Del Mar for your articles.
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