Trainer Sean McCarthy was concerned earlier this week when defending champion Grand Slam Smile drew to inside post for Sunday’s $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes.
But McCarthy got a break Sunday, when trainer John Sadler scratched Christel Clean from the No. 2 gate for the seven-furlong sprint for older Cal-bred fillies and mares.
“John’s horse has speed, and it could have been a real speed duel,” said McCarthy.
As it was, Grand Slam Smile broke a little slow without paying a price. She quickly moved to the lead under jockey Juan Hernandez and won by 5 ¼ lengths to pay backers of the 11-10 favorite $4.20.
“There were no special instructions for me,” said Hernandez, who capped a second straight three-win day. “Sean just told me to ‘go do your thing.’
“She came away from there just a bit slow, so I had to ask her some to get position. But once we got up front, she was on the muscle all the way. She was strong. She’s some filly.”
“Before the race, Juan said he was going to be a bit aggressive coming out of the inside post,” said McCarthy. “Grand Slam Smile broke a little slower today.
“But she’s getting older and getting a little wiser about those things and when she cleared the gap she was running on up in there. Once she took ahold of the bridle, I was feeling pretty good.”
In addition to being a repeat champion in the Betty Grable, Grand Slam Smile, a 5-year-old daughter of Smiling Tiger, now has 14 wins in 25 career starts with six seconds and three thirds. Sunday’s win was her sixth on the dirt. She has seven turn wins and one on a synthetic surface. She now has career earnings of $1,114,120.
Finishing a distant second was Canadian invader Big Hug (Tiego Pereira), with She’s No Quant (Hector Berrios) another half-length back in third.
With six wins in the first three days, Hernandez has taken an early lead in a big to regain his grasp on Del Mar’s jockey title. In addition to Grand Slam Smile, Hernandez scored wins in three straight races Sunday with Himari ($3.60) in the sixth, Hazaka ($11.00) in the seventh and Grand Slam Smile.
Jockey Kazushi Kimura and trainer Phil D’Amato each had two wins Sunday.
Racing resumes Friday with the first post at 12:30 p.m. The feature races of the second weekend will be a pair of $100,000 tests for 2-year-olds — Saturday’s Desi Arnaz Stakes for fillies and Sunday’s Bob Hope Stakes for the boys.
Notable
Hernandez scored his first win of the meeting in Saturday’s first race aboard Muscled. But he was not scheduled to ride in the race. He was a late substitute because jockey Drayden Van Dyke got caught in an I-5 traffic jam while returning from working out horse at Santa Anita earlier in the morning.