The Spa Settles a Score, and Del Mar Turns Up the Speed
Two fillies have split their first two meetings, and on Saturday afternoon they finally get to settle it. The 110th Coaching Club American Oaks brings Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner together with Acorn winner Counting Stars for the third time this year, with $500,000 and control of the division on the line. Counting Stars, trained by Mark Casse, was a 2 1/4-length third to Always a Runner at Churchill Downs before turning the tables with a 3 3/4-length score in the Acorn over this exact course and distance on June 5th. Chad Brown sends Always a Runner back at 9-5 with Jose Ortiz up, while Irad Ortiz Jr. keeps the mount on the 2-1 Counting Stars, and Brown's lightly raced Directive makes her stakes debut at 6-1 under Flavien Prat. La Rascasse has been scratched after a training setback, and Todd Pletcher's Zany, who finished sixth as the favorite in the Kentucky Oaks and adds blinkers, was still cross-entered at Monmouth as of Thursday night. It is race 10 on a card that opens at 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
One race earlier comes the Grade 2, $400,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at six furlongs. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Built is the 8-5 favorite from post 8, a son of Hard Spun who set a six-furlong track record of 1:07.96 at Fair Grounds in March but has yet to break through in three stakes tries this year. Wayne Catalano is shipping him up from Churchill Downs precisely because the iron is hot. Bill Mott's millionaire Damon's Mound is the 4-1 second choice from the rail, and both Hymn and Cat On Time arrive on three-race win streaks, so this is no coronation.
Out west, Del Mar hosts the best sprint of the weekend. The Grade 1, $400,000 Bing Crosby drew nine, all of them running for a free pass into the Breeders' Cup Sprint on October 31 at Keeneland. Bob Baffert's Cornucopian tops the board off three wins in four starts this year, including the Aristides, and a fifth Bing Crosby would break Baffert's tie with the late Bruce Headley for the most by a trainer. Do not dismiss Dr. Venkman, who is four for seven at Del Mar and reunites with Umberto Rispoli for the first time since their third-place run in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint.
Canada gets in on it too. Woodbine cards three CA$175,000 graded stakes Saturday, all restricted to females: the Ontario Colleen on turf, then the Hendrie and the Trillium on Tapeta. Rashmi is the 9-5 Trillium favorite for Jonathan Thomas off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Gamely, and Mark Casse sends out defending Hendrie winner Creed's Gold at 3-1.
Sunday belongs to the grass. The 53rd Eddie Read drew nine for $250,000 at a mile and an eighth, led by defending winner Formidable Man, who has lost just once in seven starts on the Del Mar turf and took the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile in May. Michael McCarthy also runs Whittingham winner Mondego, while Phil D'Amato counters with 2023 Read winner Gold Phoenix and American Stakes winner Almendares. Spare a cheer for Cabo Spirit, making his 43rd career start. Back at the Spa, Grand Job is a razor-thin 1/2 in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss for Bill Mott, seeking redemption after losing by a nose in both the Madison and the Bed o' Roses, with millionaire Haulin Ice the one to beat her.
All of this arrives in a week that also brought the retirement of Journalism, and the calendar only gets heavier from here. The Jim Dandy lands next Saturday, the Whitney on August 8th, and Travers Day on August 29th.
