The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com)FIELD OF SEVEN SET FOR 41ST OSUNITAS HANDICAP AT DEL MAR
Headed by highweights Pourquoi Pas and Grafin, a field of seven fillies and mares is expected to start in today's 41st running of the Osunitas Handicap at Del Mar. If all seven start, the purse will be worth $104,900, with the winner's share being $64,900. For any scratches, deduct $300 from each figure.
Pourquoi Pas, owned by Frankfurt Stable and trained by Charlie Whittingham, and Grafin, owned by Darley Stud Management and trained by Jeremy Noseda, are weighted at 119 and give from one to six pounds to their rivals.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND STAKES AT DEL MAR BEGIN TO SHAPE UP WELL
Del Mar racing fans will be treated to three major stakes on one of the seaside track's biggest weekends - Labor Day weekend.
Opening the activity on Saturday will be the 57th running of the Grade II, $250,000 Del Mar Handicap, at 1 3/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. The race is an invitational event with high weights getting preference in the field.
At this stage, those horses considered solid for the race are Talloires, with Kent Desormeaux to ride; Dernier Empereur, with Patrick Valenzuela; Special Price, Rene Douglas; Urgent Request, Chris Antley; Windsharp, Eddie Delahoussaye; and possibly Ianomami, Martin Pedroza.
The winner would join a select list of fine runners to win the race, including two-time winner Navarone, Swink, Barberstown, Precisionist, Wickerr, Ancient Title, Daryl's Joy, Figonero and Native Diver.
Sunday's 26th edition of the Grade II, $300,000-added Chula Vista Handicap is expected to draw the highly regarded filly Exotic Wood, whose most recent outing resulted in a solid victory in the Grade I Go For Wand Handicap at Saratoga Racecourse. Expected to test Exotic Wood are Different, Top Rung and Borodislew, who will be going after her second straight Chula Vista win. Lady Sorolla and Track Gal are on the "maybe" list.
The race for fillies and mares, 3 years old and older, will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Past winners include these distaffers: Paseana, Magical Maiden, Exchange, Bayakoa, Goodby Halo, Infinidad, Fran's Valentine, Dontstop Themusic and Princess Rooney.
The Grade II, $300,000-guaranteed Del Mar Derby, another invitational event, will head Monday's Labor Day card. The 52nd running of this race for 3-year-olds will be contested at 1 1/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
The field continues to be fluid, but trainers Mike Orman, Tom Bunn and Ron McAnally have indicated that they will start their top standard-bearers - Ambivalent, Caribbean Pirate and Matty G, respectively.
Ambivalent stands atop the field with two stakes victories already at the Del Mar meeting. The son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Rhodes won a division of Del Mar's opening-day stakes feature - the Oceanside - and followed up with a victory in the Grade III La Jolla Stakes on August 11.
Caribbean Pirate won the other half of the Oceanside and finished third in the La Jolla.
Matty G, who finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby, won an allowance race at Del Mar convincingly in his first start on the grass August 3.
Past Derby winners include Da Hoss, Tight Spot, Hawkster, Vernon Castle, Tsunami Slew, Relaunch, Great Circle and Speak John.
FIESTA DEL MAR! HOLDS FORTH IN SEASIDE TRACK'S INFIELD ON SUNDAY
Jose Manuel Figueroa will be the featured entertainer as the popular Fiesta Del Mar! will be presented on Sunday, beginning at noon in the racetrack's infield.
Music and entertainment will be in order before and between the nine races on Sunday's card. Figueroa will play following the day's races.
Admission is the regular grandstand price of $3, and all children 17 and under are admitted free with a parent or guardian. In addition to Figueroa, the entertainers include Banda Kordena, Gildardo Alvarez, Mariachi Real, Banda Cimarron, Enedina Lammers, Familia Rojas and Ballet Folklorico.
The fiesta is presented annually by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in cooperation with Radio Latina, X99 FM radio station and San Diego television station KBNT.
HORSEMEN TURN BEACH BOYS FOR TUESDAY VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
At least 11 teams are expected to serve, set and spike on Tuesday in the horsemen's volleyball tournament on Del Mar Beach just off of downtown. Along with the volleyball fun will be a general beach party for families and friends.
The 11 teams already signed up are: Del Mar Salsa (Manuel Avila, captain); Team Pegasus (Gary Kretschner, captain); The Jetsons (Aimee Dollase); Vet's List (Mike Mitchell); Anti-Wooses (Tom Knust); Gamecocks (Gus Headley); Fatboys (Steve Trevino); No Name Yet (Nick Canani); Doc's Bunch (John Araujo); Fearless (A.C. Valenzuela); and Areyoutalkintome? (T. Pat Stubbs).
Captains have been told to have their teams ready to go as close to 10:30 a.m. as possible, in order to get the tourney off in a timely manner.
Wristbands are available to beach partygoers, so they can obtain food and drinks, in the frontside racing office or from Anne Palmer, director of horsemen's relations at Del Mar. The beach party begins at 10:30 a.m. and runs through the afternoon in the beach area just south of the main lifeguard station at 15th Street in Del Mar.
SHORE LINES: Jockey Felix Martinez suffered a hairline fracture of his upper right arm, in the bicep area, as a result of a spill in which he was involved in Friday's third race. It's unlikely that he will ride again at this Del Mar meeting .... Another local jockey, Danny Sorenson, is out of action nursing a broken scapula (shoulder blade) that he suffered while roller-blading .... Question: If the horse Tom Cruiser, a winner of two races at the meeting at Del Mar, were to run again, could it bring the popular actor Tom Cruise down to where the turf meets the surf? Manuel Avila, exercise rider and assistant to trainer, thinks it could happen. "He knows about the horse," Avila said. "We thought he was going to get to Hollywood Park when the horse won, but he had to be at the premiere for 'Mission Impossible.' When it won, they played the music from the movie. It was cool." .... Jockey Gary Stevens will begin his comeback from shoulder surgery in New York on Friday when he rides one of two fillies tabbed by trainer D. Wayne Lukas to start in Saratoga's Grade I, $200,000-guaranteed Spinaway Stakes. On Saturday, he'll ride one of two colts trained by Lukas in the Grade I, $200,000-guaranteed Hopeful Stakes, also at Saratoga. On Monday, Stevens will ride Prince of Thieves for Lukas in the Grade III, $200,000-guaranteed Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park.
The Running Horse (http://www.isd1.com)