DEL MAR – For Junior Alvarado, winning the Pacific Classic on Knightsbridge completed a double of Grade I wins at Del Mar Saturday.
Just before the Pacific Classic, Alvarado rode Tam Tam to victory in the $300,000 Del Mar Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile turf Grade 1 stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Alvarado and Tam Tam stalked front-running favorite Kensington Lane for more than a mile before taking the lead in the stretch.
Tam Tam finished 1 ¼ lengths ahead of 40-1 longshot Lookin At Diamond. Kensington Lane finished another 1 ¼ lengths back in third.
Trainer Phil D’Amato and jockey Umberto Rispoli teamed for wins in Saturday’s two Grade II stakes races. King of Gosford ($12.40) won the Grade II Del Mar Mile, a one-mile turf test for older horses. And Sorrento Sky denied Motorious a fourth straight win in the five-furlong Green Flash Handicap turf sprint.
Tam Tam shipped in from Churchill Downs for the 70th running of the Del Mar Oaks, which drew 120 starters. Tam Tam had run second just behind Kensington Lane from the start to the middle of the stretch. Lookin At Diamond, a 40-1 longshot under Julien Laparoux, rallied from sixth to also catch the fading Kensington Lane (Joel Rosario) in the stretch.
“I thought I still had a little horse turning for home,” said Rosario. “But they were definitely coming. They finished fast. I thought Kensington Lane put in a good effort.”
“This is just pure relief,” said Tam Tam trainer Philip Bauer. “We felt like we had some good fillies the last few years with Grade I talent. But we just couldn’t get it done. I’m glad Tam Tam came through.
“I was pretty confident,” said Alvarado. “She was travelling beautifully, although I didn’t know what to expect when I asked her to go. Normally, she is more aggressive. But I guess she was in a good rating and enjoying the ride.
“It seems like she matures with every race.”
Notable
Motorious’ bid for a fourth straight win in the Green Flash ended in a fourth-place finish for the 8-5 favorite. Rispoli rallied Sorrento Sky in the stretch to give D’Amato his first stakes win of the day in the five-furlong turf sprint that assured Sorrento Sky a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
• Sorrento Sky was fourth in the stretch but finished a length ahead of runnerup No Nay Hudson (Juan Hernandez) with Virat (Hector Berrios) another half length back.
“Sorrento Sky got a beautiful trip today and that was the difference,” said D’Amato. “Umberto always believed in this horse. This was the way he always envisioned him running and it worked out.”
“It was a little bit of a sacrifice with the draw,” said Rispoli. “I had to take him all the way back to save some ground. Fortunately, it paid off. I was following the right horses around. He ran them all down.”
• Jockey Antonio Fresu said Motorious failed to fire when called upon.
“When I put him outside, he didn’t show me the burst he usually does,” said Fresu of the 8-year-old gelding. “He’s getting older. We will see how he comes out of this race. It was a little bit too hard for him to do it today.”
• There were two $100,000 races for 2-year-old maidens on Saturday’s program.
The Jena Antonucci-trained Girls Wear Pants ($26.20), with Rispoli aboard, won a 5 ½-furlong sprint for fillies with Bob Baffert’s favored Furiosity, a $450,000 purchase in May, finishing 9th of 10 under Hernandez.
Jockey leader Joel Rosario rode the Peter Miller-trained Take a Picture to victory in a one-mile maiden race on the dirt. The field was shortened to five starters with the scratch of Baffert entries Motga and Babe’s Empire.
• Proletariat Sunday will try to become just the ninth horse in 81 years to double in the opening-day Oceanside Stakes and the Grade II Del Mar Derby. The gelded son of Raging Bull won the Oceanside by 5 ¾ lengths on July 17 now returns Sunday, again under Kyle Frey, as the 9-5 favorite in the $300,000 Derby — which will send nine, 3-year-old colts and geldings 1 1/8 miles on the turf.
Second-favorite, morning-line pick Tribalism (5-1, Rosario) is one of two Michael McCarthy-trained horses in the Derby. The other is Bust Out (Rispoli), who finished fourth in the Oceanside.
• Also in Sunday’s field are Secured Freedom (Ramon Vasquez), who finished a distant second to Proletariat in the Oceanside in his first start on the turf, and Unrivaled Time (Armando Ayuso), who won the Grade III Cecille B. DeMille Stakes at Del Mar last fall before finishing eighth in the Oceanside.