DEL MAR – Umberto Rispoli rallied The Padre in the stretch to win the La Jolla Handicap on Sunday.
But the other half of the $100,000 co-features ended in controversy when apparent California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes winner My Love Caroline was disqualified for an incident leaving the starting gate and dropped to fourth.
Jasmina, who finished a nose behind My Love Caroline at the finish, was declared the winner. Tapatia Mia was moved up a spot to second and 1-2 favorite Liberation, who stewards ruled was fouled by My Love Caroline, was advanced to third.
The ruling was a majority decision by the three stewards.
The problem began when Liberation broke last out of the gate under Hector Berrios. As horses will do, My Love Caroline (Armando Ayuso) veered slightly to the right into the open space created by Liberation’s slow start. But Liberation quickly recovered, clipped the heels of My Love Carolina and stumbled.
At the other end of the five-furlong sprint on the dirt, My Love Caroline beat Jasmina (Kyle Frey) by a head bob at the wire. Tapatia Mia (Ruben Silvera) was 1¼ lengths back in third and a half-length ahead of Liberation.
“You don’t want to win it like that, but she ran a great race,” trainer Simon Callaghan said of Jasmina. “When she broke good and got a nice trip and the favorite was a long way back, I was thinking this is going to plan. She’s such a trier.
“I thought the head bob had gone my way,” said Frey, “but I still congratulated Ayuso just in case to be a good sport. I still had my fingers crossed. I will say when I saw the result on the board, it was a little upsetting. And then when I saw the numbers flashing and watched the video, I started to get a little excited. Though my horse did step in, it seemed like My Love Caroline and Liberation shifted into my hip, which caused me to pull down a tad bit.
“Thank God I corrected immediately because the stewards clearly took notice of the effort.”
Back to the La Jolla Handicap, The Padre was the even-money favorite although the 1 1/16-mile turf race was only the second race in the United States for the Irish-bred colt.
The Padre was the last out of the gate, a fact that Rispoli owed to his limited American experience. He was still third in the field of six in the stretch before rallying with a strong finishing kick to win by a half length over second-favorite Freedom’s Not Free (Antonio Fresu).
“It wasn’t a great setup,” trainer Phil D’Amato of the way the La Jolla played out. “He’s a horse that comes from behind and when they were slow for three-quarters and he was wide, he had to fly coming home. It just shows this horse has a brilliant turn of foot.”
Added Rispoli: “Phil told me before the race ‘make sure you get him out of the gate OK … after that he’s all yours.’ I got on this horse for the first time last week. When I worked him, he felt good and he gave me some confidence. I could tell he’s got a good mind. I think he’s the kind that is only going to get better.”
Rispoli has only four wins in 35 Del Mar starts this summer, but three of those have come in stakes races.
Youth served up
The focus of Del Mar’s fourth week will be juveniles.
Three of the four stakes scheduled for next week will be for 2-year-olds, starting with Friday’s $100,000 Graduation Stakes, a five-furlong sprint for Cal-breds. Six are entered, including the Peter Miller-trained filly What’s A Good Name (Juan Hernandez), who was scratched from Sunday’s CTBA Stakes, and Doug O’Neill’s Hero Or Zero (Rispoli).
O’Neill has filed six of the eight nominations for Saturday’s Grade III Best Pal Stakes, the local prep for the Grade I Del Mar Futurity (Sept. 7). Sunday will see the Grade III Sorrento Stakes with 12 juvenile fillies nominated for the prep to the Sept. 6 Grade I Del Mar Debutante.
Also scheduled for Saturday is the Grade II $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16-miles on the turf. Sixteen horses have been nominated with D’Amato leading the way with six nominees to two for Richard Baltas.
Notable
Prized 2-year-olds trained by Bob Baffert ran an impressive 1-2 in their debuts in Sunday’s opening race, a six-furlong test for maidens. Buetane, a $1.15 million purchase in April by Amir Zedan, won as a 1-5 favorite under Juan Hernandez followed by Falcon Jet, a $750,000 purchase ridden by Mike Smith. Buetane is the son of Tiz the Law. Falcon Jet is the son of Justify.
• The early Daily Double (2-3) paid $3.80 with each race won by a 1-5 favorites – Buetane and Formula Rossa (Antonio Fresu) in the second.
Reigning Del Mar champion Hernandez leads the jockey standings with 15 wins after 11 of 31 days in the summer meeting. Fresu is second with 13 wins while Kazushi Kimura is third with 11, six of which came this week. Ayuso, who also had six wins this week, is tied with Berrios in fourth with nine wins. Hernandez is the first rider this summer to break $1 million in earnings.
Mark Glatt leads the trainer standings with nine wins to eight apiece for Baffert and Miller. Baffert is the first trainer to top $1 million in earning