Not only did Miller’s 19-1 longshot Game Warrior survive the stretch rush of odds-on favorite Iron Man Cal to win the featured $100,000 Oceanside Stakes, the trainer scored earlier with 9-1 pick Tejon Pass on a day of big prices.

Favorites won just two of the 10 races with horses ranked 5-1 or longer scoring seven wins, with two winners checking in at odds of approximately 20-1.

“Winning is good,” Miller said in the winner’s circle.

But winning isn’t easy. And favorite Iron Man Cal might have triumphed had the son of Collected not bobbled badly leaving the starting gate of the one-mile turf test for 3-year-olds.

Iron Man Cal trailed the field much of the way until jockey Antonio Fresu found an opening along the rail and in the stretch and mounted a determined charge that came with a half-length of overtaking the winner.

“It was a good race for Game Warrior,” said jockey Hector Berrios, who also had two wins on opening day. “He was relaxed all the way. We had a little bit of trouble in the stretch … we got bumped some. But it wasn’t too bad. When I asked him he went. He was strong.”

Not that Miller had a visual of Game Warrior at a key moment. “I didn’t pick him up,” said the trainer. “It was my son who spotted him splitting horses. Hector gave him a superb ride.

“He got him to the rail by the first turn out of the seven hole. He saved all the ground. Then he split horses in a tight opening.”

Game Warrior paid $40.60 to win. But he was just the third-longest play of the afternoon.

Ribbons paid $59.40 to win the day’s finale while producing the first Del Mar win for Italian-born newcomer Mirco Demuro. And Lino’s Angel (Tyler Baze) paid $45.40 to win the seventh.

Opening day attendance was 21,209 with a handle of $21.22 million, marking a 6.5% gain in on-track handle from opening day a year ago.

Opening weekend continues Saturday with two stakes — the $200,000 Grade II San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on the Jimmy Durante turf course and the $100,000 Wickerr, a one-mile turf test for older horses.

The San Clemente is seen as a prep for next month’s Grade I Del Mar Oaks.

D’Amato and Bob Baffert each has two fillies in the San Clemente with D’Amato fielding the morning line 8-5 favorite in Thought Process.

A daughter of Collected, Thought Process won the $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last summer and captured the Grade III Surfer Girl at Santa Anita a month later before finishing a disappointing ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last Nov. 1. She has raced only once since then, winning an allowance at Santa Anita in June.

“That was an impressive comeback race,” said D’Amato. “It was a good prep for the San Clemente. And she likes this track.”

D’Amato’s other entry in the San Clemente is fourth-favorite Jungle Peace (Fresu), which is coming off a third-place finish in the Grade III Honeymoon in May at Santa Anita, which snapped a three-race winning streak.

Baffert will have third-favorite Casalu (Kasuzhi Kimura), who is seeking a third straight win.

The Wickerr features the return of Beyond Brilliant, a 7-year-old son of Twirling Candy who hasn’t raced since 2022 due to an injury.

Trainer John Shirreffs said Beyond Brilliant has been idled for more than 2½ years after suffering a torn tendon. Before suffering the injury, Beyond Brilliant had five wins, four seconds and two thirds in 16 career starts with earnings of more than $776,000. Three of the wins had been in graded stakes.

While Beyond Brilliant is a 7-2, morning-line favorite in the Wickerr, eight of his 10 opponents ran against graded stakes competition in their most recent outings.

There will be some split interest at Del Mar Saturday. California’s best-known horse, Journalism — the Preakness Stakes winner and runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont — will be racing at Monmouth Park in the Haskell Stakes.

But there is more excitement than usual heading into Friday’s opening of the 86th summer season of horse racing at the historic seaside oval.

“Everything is pointing in a special direction for 2025,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s president and chief operating officer. “The conversion to a single circuit in California has strengthened the product. There’s a real buzz around the track. Our racing department, Tom Robbins and David Jerkens have done a great job working with owners and trainers. We’re receiving great feedback and interest. Our stable area is packed.”

A week ago, Del Mar racing secretary Jerkens had high hopes as he prepared to accept entries for the opening weekend’s 32 races over three days. The results were beyond expectations.

“We’ve drawn quality horses in packed fields,” said Jerkens. “It creates a sense of excitement for the entire 31-day meeting.”

Starting with the opening day feature, the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes at a mile on the turf for 3-year-olds. The race has drawn 10 entries paced by Iron Man Cal, a Joyful Dreams colt that finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last Nov. 1. Antonio Fresu will be aboard the Phil D’Amato trained 9-5 favorite named after Cal Ripken Jr.

Not only has Del Mar’s horse population been bolstered by thoroughbreds and trainers who formerly worked on the now-defunct Northern California circuit, there is expected to be more competition among returning jockeys and conditioners at the track.

Juan Hernandez has dominated Del Mar’s riding titles since Flavien Prat moved east. But Fresu was champion of a recent meeting at Santa Anita and the local riding community includes Unberto Rispoli, Hector Berrios, Kazushi Kimura and newcomer Mirco Demuro, an Italian-born jockey who has been racing in Japan.

Rispoli will be missing Saturday as he rides top California horse and Preakness champion Journalism in the $1 million, Grade I Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Journalism is the 4-5 morning-favorite.

Journalism’s trainer Michael McCarthy will have a string at Del Mar and be part of a training contingent that includes D’Amato, Bob Baffert, John Sadler, Mark Glatt, Doug O’Neill and the rebounding Peter Miller.

Track officials announced Thursday that opening day is sold out, although limited tickets remain for Saturday and Sunday through dmtc.com.

Opening day, of course, also features a number of supporting festivities — including Del Mar’s annual hat contest.

“Opening day is an event unto itself,” said Rubinstein. “It’s a summer celebration. It has a special spot on both the racing and Southern California calendar.”

First post on opening day and most days will be 2 p.m., with Saturdays and Sundays hosting 10 or 11 races. After opening day, post time for the next four, eight-race Fridays will be 4 p.m., then move to 3 p.m. for the final four Fridays.

The 31-day summer meeting will cover eight weeks.

Del Mar will be introducing several new wagering options this season. There will be a third pick-four for races 4-to-7 on opening day and the weekends. There will be a $3 minimum pick three for the last three races each day plus a $5 minimum daily double for the last two races daily.

As Rubinstein said: “Everything is pointing in a special direction.”

All three races in Friday’s Pick Three drew 10 or more entries. The same held true for Saturday and Sunday — not only raising opportunities for wagerers but marking the first time in almost three months that 10 or more horses could start in three straight races.

“It’s a very exciting time for our sport and Del Mar,” said Jerkens. “There are new opportunities for horsemen and horsewomen and our fans. And we’re giving the incoming trainers and horses the best possible chance of success in a new setting.”

Clearly, however, the game has changed. Horse racing in Northern California has collapsed, leaving Southern California’s Del Mar, Santa Anita and Los Alamitos tracks as the only venues in the state.

“There is a totally different dynamic here this summer with only one circuit in the state,” said Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens. “We have 12 to 15 more trainers bringing horses to Del Mar, with 300 to 400 horses moving down south from Pleasanton and the Northern California fair circuit. Our barn space will be full. We’ve had more interest than we have stalls. And San Luis Downs and Los Alamitos will be hosting more horses running here.”

The added horses should lead to bigger fields and higher wagering handles, Jerkens and Del Mar chief operating officer Josh Rubinstein said.

The field size for Santa Anita’s spring meeting was up 13% over 2024 to an average of 7.7 horses per race. The handle — or the amount of money wagered — was up 7.5%, Rubinstein said.

Even before the collapse of the Northern California circuit, Del Mar has been an industry leader in field size for much of the past decade. Last year’s average field size for the summer meeting was 8.7 horses per race. That was slightly lower than the 8.8 mark of 2024 and 2023’s 9.0.

“On paper, we’re in a very healthy situation, which makes us excited about this meet,” said Jerkens. “But we’ve set the bar high. The biggest key will be how some of the barns coming here from Northern California compete. There are a lot of unknowns.”

Jerkens has been meeting with trainers and owners to contour a 2025 schedule of races that maintains Del Mar’s high level of competition while creating more opportunities for horses and trainers moving south. Del Mar has “altered our menu of races,” Jerkens said.

“There are races with different claiming levels, more opportunities for California-bred horses,” he said. “We want to do our best to offer opportunities for the entire population here.”

“The single California circuit has been very positive,” said Rubinstein. “We’re seeing 13% gains in some areas. We have a purse increase of 8% based on projections from Santa Anita. And we want to give the Northern California population the best possible opportunity. The purses we’re offering here are double what they had been in Northern California.

“Not only do we have the horses from the north, our ship-and-win program attracts top horses from outside the state. We’re encouraged both by what we’ve seen and what we expect.”

While Friday is opening day, Sunday is almost as important to Jerkens. That’s when entries are taken for rgw opener.

“This will be the first example of where we are,” he said. “Opening day has so much pent-up anticipation. We feel we’ll have capacity fields. It’s imperative to get off to a good start. Our average field on opening day last year was a shade under 10 horses.  We’re expecting a big increase in numbers and demand for sure.”

The first day feature is the 80th Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 mile on the turf. Twenty-one horses were nominated. Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II San Clemente Handicap has attracted 29 nominations. The $100,000 Wickerr Stakes the same day has 21 nominations. And Sunday’s $100,000 Osunitas Stakes has 30 nominations.

There is one new jockey of note. Mirco Demuro, a 46-year-old Italian who has been riding in Japan with 1,300 career wins (including the Dubai World Cup), debuts at Del Mar on Friday.

As for the elephant in the room, Del Mar officials have drawn up plans in case U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stages an immigration raid during the summer season. The Santa Anita and recent Los Alamitos meetings encountered no ICE interference.

“We have a plan,” said Rubinstein, without divulging details. “We’ve spent a significant amount of time internally addressing the issue and communicating with stakeholders and the backstretch community.”

The Immigration and Nationalization Service staged a raid at Del Mar early during the 1985 summer season. Trainers protested by withholding their horses and a day of racing was lost.

While no commitment has been reached, San Diego appears to be one of five or six sites vying for dates on next year’s schedule, which is expected to be finalized next month and announced in August.  NASCAR has been looking at possible sites in downtown San Diego, Coronado and one other spot in San Diego County.

“Schedule negotiations are one of the best-kept secrets in NASCAR,” a source told the San Diego Union-Tribune last week. “There is always speculation at this time of year as to where NASCAR is going. But no one knows.”

NASCAR has scouted the San Diego area for potential street courses and is working with Sports San Diego — the organization that produces the Holiday Bowl and Rady Children’s Hospital Basketball Invitational and backs sports tourism in the San Diego area. Sports San Diego did not respond to inquiries.

Southern California hasn’t hosted a regular-season NASCAR race since 2023, when Auto Club Speedway closed. Plans to rebuild that track as a half-mile oval have stalled.

In 2023-24, NASCAR held its preseason Busch Clash all-star race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. But that race has been moved to Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“NASCAR sees San Diego as it does Las Vegas,” said the source, “a destination-style venue, which makes it even more attractive than some other potential sites.”

However, San Diego also faces a number of obstacles — starting with finding a spot on an already packed schedule. NASCAR’s premier series runs from February through the first weekend of November.

This year’s schedule includes a street race in Chicago and the recently run inaugural road race in Mexico City. Both sites are seeking extensions to hold races beyond this year. There is also talk that if the Chicago street race contract isn’t extended, NASCAR could return to the nearby oval at Chicagoland Speedway.

Earlier this year, NASCAR said it wanted to explore “new and unique” street courses given the success at Chicago. Although the first two Chicago events were plagued by rain, the economic impact of each event was estimated at more than $200 million.

NASCAR was very happy with the inaugural Mexico City race, although the logistics and travel issues made it a difficult venue for teams.

Montreal, Philadelphia and Denver have also expressed interest in hosting a NASCAR street race. Montreal’s proposal has backing from the Canadian government. The Philadelphia proposal, which has the historic Franklin Field as its focal point, is tied to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Speedway losing one of its two traditional NASCAR races.

Were NASCAR to renew its contracts with both Chicago and Mexico City, there might not be an opening on the 2026 schedule unless NASCAR expands its schedule deeper into November. Adding a 39th and 40th date has been discussed before, but has met resistance from teams due to the already short off-season. NASCAR has raced as late as Nov. 20 in the past.

There has also been discussions to revise the playoff format at the end of the season and add a race to the regular season.

NASCAR has tight control of its race sites and schedule. Were the San Diego area to be granted a street race, it likely would appear early on the schedule where the Auto Club Speedway date used to be (late February or early March).

This is not the first time a car race has been proposed for downtown San Diego. In 1992, Long Beach Grand Prix founder Chris Pook wanted to move his IMSA sports car race to downtown San Diego after staging it for six years at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. But every course plotted by Pook ran into problems due to crossing railroad tracks and government regulations and restrictions.

IndyCar briefly looked at San Diego earlier this century with a course using Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway. But the tracks and train traffic proved to be an insurmountable barrier.

Coronado hosted the Coronado Speed Festival vintage car races from 1997 to 2015 at the North Island Naval Air Station as part of Fleet Week. But the Navy placed restrictions on what attendees could bring onto the base.

Most riders are done before their 30th birthday. Only a handful have raced past 35.

And no one has gone where Billy Laninovich wants to go Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.

The Ramona rider is hoping to qualify for the 250cc support main event of the 42nd San Diego Supercross at the age of 41. (He turned 42 in 5½ weeks).

Laninovich is already the oldest rider in professional Supercross history. Every main event he makes pushes him deeper into uncharted territory.

“Everyone thinks I am crazy,” said Laninovich. “But I’m having a blast. I have no idea how long I’ll keep doing this. I’m just excited to be doing it … again.”

Motocross consists of a motorcycle race over a tortuous course of obstacles packed into a tight, half-mile course. There are high jumps, double jumps, triple jumps plus almost every bump and rut imaginable.

Every 20-lap Supercross finale produces its share of flips, falls and accidents.

Even a flawless race pounds a rider into exhaustion. And injuries are as much a part of Supercross as they are in football — which is why careers are so short.

“When you are young and making all that money, you think it will go on forever,” said Laninovich. “I was once one of those kids. Then you get hurt and it’s a wake-up call. You can only go on for so long.”

Laninovich didn’t go on unscathed. Over the past two decades, he’s had four knee reconstruction surgeries and a broken collarbone. “I know,” he says. “I’ve been luckier than most.”

But he retired twice before and had been out of the sport for 12 years before deciding to return at the start of the 2024 season. Riding a Yamaha as a privateer, Laninovich made two main events last season to become the oldest starter in Supercross history at the age of 40. Former series champion Chad Reed had held the record at 38. Both Kevin Windham and Jason Brayton rode until 37. Kyle Chisholm is still riding in the featured 450cc class as a 37-year-old.

Laninovich returned this year as a rider/coach for the SlamLife Racing team that is transitioning from off-road racing to Supercross and Motocross. The main rider for SLR’s Hondas is 18-year-old Parker Ross. The team also has four younger amateur riders.

Ross wasn’t yet born when Laninovich launched a professional career that has resulted in one race win and two fourth-place finishes in the final 250cc standings (2003 and 2005). Most of Laninovich’s career has been in the 250cc division, although he spent parts of several Supercross and motocross seasons on a 450.

Laninovich said he was on a motorcycle “about 20 times between 2016 and 2023. When asked why he returned to racing, Laninovich had a direct answer.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I was working as an electrician on major projects in downtown San Diego. A guy called asking me to train his son. When I got back on a bike and felt I could do it. I’m here for a reason. It still blows me away that I can do it. I have the reality that I can do it. But these young kids are so stinkin’ fast. I’m so far off the pace.”

Then last July, a SLR director called and asked if he would coach their young riders. Laninovich agreed if he could also try to qualify for Supercrosses.

“My job is to get Parker up to speed,” said Laninovich. Ross finished 17th in the 250cc finale at Anaheim, moving into the top 10 early before he got knocked down by a rival.

Meanwhile, Laninovich failed to qualify. He finished 12th in his heat then ninth in the last-chance qualifier after a bad start.

“The next four races will determine how far I keep going,” said Laninovich. “If I’m struggling to get into the main events, what is the point? But I still think I can do it. The San Diego race last year was awesome. I had great motivation to be racing in my hometown. The dads knew what I was doing. The kids had no idea who I was.”

It’s the same with the racing fraternity.

“None of the young riders know me,”Laninovich said. “The guys in the featured division were just coming in when I was going out. Ross realizes what I’m doing. He doesn’t want to get beat by me. I shouldn’t beat him. My job is being his coach.

“I want him to beat me. But I’d love to beat him.”

One thing that has returned from Laninovich’s past is the post-race soreness. “Getting beat up at 41 is different from getting beat up at 19,” he said. “The bikes today are much faster and smoother than when I first raced. The suspension, motor, chassis … everything is so much better.

“I’m not sure why I’m so sore right now, but I am. I do a lot of therapy for my knees and hip. I got landed on last year in San Diego in the mud race. But I’m back.”

KTM factory rider Adam Plessinger won last year’s stop at Snapdragon Stadium. Chase Sexton, the 2023 series champion, won the 2025 season opener last Saturday in Anaheim on a KTM. Ken Roczen (Suzuki) was second and Jason Anderson (Kawasaki) third.

Jett Lawrence (Honda) is the defending 450cc series champion, but finished 12th in the season opener. San Diego’s 450cc field includes five former series champions – Lawrence, Sexton, Anderson, Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac, who were fourth and fifth, respectively, at Anaheim.

42nd San Diego Supercross

When: 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Gates open at 10:30 a.m. for FanFest and qualifying.

Where: Snapdragon Stadium.

Tickets: Prices start at $49.

Jockey Umberto Rispoli and Formidable Man ran down Donegal Momentum in the stretch to win the featured Grade I, $300,000 Hollywood Derby by a half-length over equally fast-closing King of Gosford.

Earlier, strong stretch runs by long shots led to victories for Mi Hermano Ramon ($24.80) in the Grade II Seabiscuit Handicap and Will Then ($23) in the Grade III Jimmy Durante Stakes.

Will Then’s victory gave jockey Vincent Cheminaud and trainer Jonathan Thomas a third straight win to open the Turf Festival. Hector Berrios brought trainer Mark Glatt’s Mi Hermano Ramon home a half-length in front of fast-closing, 3-5 favorite Redistricting in the 1 1/16-mile Seabiscuit for older horses.

Donegal Momentum took the lead just over a quarter-mile into the 1 1/8-mile Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds and held the lead into the stretch before giving ground to Formidable Man ($12.60) and King of Gosford. Favored Carson’s Run was never a factor and finished fifth in the field of 11.

It was the third straight win for Formidable Man at Del Mar. The son of City of Light won the Grade II Del Mar Derby on Sept. 1 and the Oceanside Stakes on the opening day of the summer meeting.

“Look, this horse has been working lights-out for weeks,” said Rispoli. “This is always a tough race at the end of the year. I knew there was quality and potential there.”

Formidable Man “had a fantastic trip,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “I was glad to see we were sitting right behind the speed. A hole opened up and he exploded.”

Berrios and Mi Hermano Ramon came out on top of a wild, four-horse stretch charge in the Seabiscuit with jockey Flavien Prat rallying trainer Chad Brown’s Redistricting from 10th to second to place a neck ahead of Astronomer with Easter another nose back in fourth.

“They went fast early and we just got comfortable,” said Berrios. “He was fine. I started following Astronomer on the turn and we found a spot. When I asked my horse, he really went. At the end, he was looking around for another horse to beat.”

Mi Hermano Ramon’s victory all but clinched the fall meeting training title for trainer Mark Glatt.

“He’s going to run his race,” said Glatt. “He’s going to fall back. Hector put a perfect ride on him.”

Will Then’s victory in the Durante followed the same script that gave the Cheminaud-Thomas tandem wins in the Red Carpet (Mrs. Astor) and Hollywood Turf Cup (Truly Quality) — run down the leaders in the stretch.

Will Then was next-to-last for the first half of the mile race for 2-year-old fillires and still eighth among the 11 starters with a quarter-mile to go. But Cheminaud found clear running room outside and passed Casalu (Kazushi Kimura) midway down the stretch and finished 2 1/4 lengths ahead of trainer Bob Baffert’s only entry in the Turf Festival.

“I loved that trip,” Thomas said of the ride Cheminaud gave Will Then.

“I was very confident,” said Cheminaud. “Jonathan and I have a very good relationship.”

And three stakes wins in three days.

The Turf Festival and fall meeting conclude Sunday with three stakes on the grass capped by the Grade I, $300,000 Matriarch Stakes — a one-mile test for older fillies and mares.

Leading the contingent is early 8/5 favorite Gina Romantica (Jose Ortiz). The 5-year-old daughter of Into Mischief will be making her 17th and final start. She is coming off her second career Grade I win in the Oct. 5 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland. Brown also has Prerequisite (Flavien Prat, 6-1), Child of the Moon (Manuel Franco, 10-1) and Tax Implications (Joel Rosario, 12-1) in the field of 11.

The second favorite is Ag Bullett (Umberto Rispoli). The 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy finished a close third in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2 after setting the Kentucky Downs record for 6½ furlongs last summer while winning the Grade II Turf Sprint. In between those races, Ag Bullet ran fourth in the First Lady won by Gina Romantica.

Sunday’s other Turf Festival races:

• Grade III Cecil B. DeMille Stakes ($100,000, 2-year-olds, 1 mile) — Scipio (Prat) is the early 8/5 f:avorite in the 10-horse field that includes the filly Origami (Juan Hernandez, 8-1). The Richard Baltas-trained Scipio is winless in three starts, but ran third in the Sept. 8 Del Mar Juvenile Turf. “He’s had a little trouble all three times he’s run,” Baltas said of Scipio, who will be chasing the early speed of Clock Tower (John Velazquez, 3-1).

• Stormy Liberal Stakes ($100,000, older horses, five furlongs) — Trainer Phil D’Amato will have the three favorites in the field of nine, including dueling stablemates Unconquerable Keen (Rispoli, 3-1) sand Turn on the Jets (Hernandez 9-2). The pair have met five times in each of their last six starts with Unconquerable Keen holding a 3-2 edge that includes a pair of wins.

But no outsiders have ever gotten off to a faster start in the eight-stakes, closing weekend of the fall meeting than trainer Jonathan Thomas and jockey Vincent Cheminaud.

Cheminaud rallied favorite Truly Quality in the stretch Friday to score a half-length victory over Phi D’Amato’s Balnikhov in the Grade II Hollywood Turf Cup, a 1½-mile marathon for older horses.

It was the Thomas-Cheminaud team’s second victory in two Turf Festival races. The pair won the Red Carpet Stakes opener last Sunday with Mrs. Astor.

While Truly Quality ($5.20) went off as the big favorite Friday, it didn’t look good for the 4-year-old gelded son of Quality Road, who was seventh among the nine starters entering the final quarter mile and still third in the stretch.

But he out-finished Balnikhov, who had also rallied in the last quarter mile and briefly led.

“I thought Truly Quality’s stamina really came into play today,” said Thomas. “For whatever reason, he’s falling off the pace. But he comes running. Vincent gave him a great ride given the circumstances with the wide post (No. 11). It’s hard to complain with the outcome.”

“To be honest, I was careful with Truly Quality today,” said Cheminaud. “I was a little bit scared because this is a short straight. But my horse was good today and the track was good to us. He gave me a nice answer at the end. He is a nice horse and he was relaxed today. And Jonathan knows him.”

The Turf Festival continues Saturday with three stakes on the grass capped by the Grade I, $300,000 Hollywood Derby – a 1⅛-mile test for 3-year-olds – as the finale on a nine-race card.

Carson’s Run ships in from the east to be a narrow 3-1 morning-line pick over local favorite Formidable Man (9-2) in a field of 13 that includes four shippers.

Trained by Christophe Clement, Carson’s Run has won three of his last four starts, including the Grade I Saratoga Derby last summer and more recently the Grade III Jockey Club Derby at Belmont on Oct. 5. Dylan Davis will be aboard the son of Cupid, who arrived at Del Mar Tuesday after a delay-riddled, 15-hour trip from New York.

Umberto Rispoli will be aboard the Michael McCarthy-trained Formidable Man, who won the Grade II Del Mar Derby in his most recent start on Sept. 1. Rispoli won two stakes with the son of City of Light during Del Mar’s summer meeting. Two horses that ran directly behind Formidable Man in the Del Mar Derby – runner-up Stay Hot (Antonio Fresu) and Atitlan (Hector Berrios) are also entered in the Hollywood Derby.

Atitlan won the Grade II Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Oct. 26 with Stay Hot second. Stay Hot has two second-place finishes since winning the La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 4. The runner-up in that race was King of Gosford (Irad Ortiz Jr.), who is the early third pick (5-1) in the Hollywood Derby after winning the Let It Ride at Del Mar Oct. 31 on the Breeders’ Cup undercard.

More Saturday’s Turf Festival races:

• The Grade II, $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap (1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds and up): Trainer D’Amato has a trio of horses in the field of 12 as he seeks a third straight Seabiscuit triumph. Easter (and Fresu) return as defending champs. But the French-bred 6-year-old has run out of the money in his last three starts. D’Amato also has Masteroffoxhounds (Frankie Dettori) and third-favorite Almendares (Ortiz Jr.) in the race. The slight, 3-1 favorite is Redistricting (Flavien Prat), a 4-year-old gelding shipped in from New York by trainer Chad Brown. The narrow second-favorite is Seal Team (Rispoli), a 4-year-old son of War Front who has raced once since winning the 2023 Twilight Derby.

• The Grade III, $100,000, Jimmy Durante Stakes (one mile, 2-year-old fillies): The John Sadler-trained Supa Speed (Prat) is the narrow, 7-2 early favorite in the field of 13. The daughter of Justify finished second to Thought Process at Del Mar on Sept. 7 in the Juvenile Fillies Turf then returned on Nov. 1 to finish 12th against the boys in the Grade II Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes on the Breeders’ Cup undercard. Sea Runner (Rispoli), who finished third behind Supa Speed in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, is the second-favorite at 9-2.

Notable

Accuracy, a 3-year-old daughter of Arrogate, won a one-mile allowance race Friday by 7¼ lengths under Rispoli. It was Accuracy’s first start since she posted the sixth-fastest speed of 2024 by a 3-year-old of either gender in a 15-length at 1-1/16 miles on Oct. 19 at Santa Anita. Accuracy went off as the 1-9 favorite.

The 4-year-old son of Curlin rallied from fifth on the far turn to pass Tarantino and Pacific Classic winner Mixto in the stretch – giving jockey Hector Berrios a second straight win on the day. Tarantino rallied to finish a head in front of Mixto.

Favorite Ultra Power finished fourth, nearly 7½ lengths behind the winner, as trainer Bob Baffert’s rare fall meeting slump continued. Baffert was shut out in last weekend’s two stakes for 2-year-olds and Saturday saw his entries finish fourth and last (Mirahmadi) in a failed effort to win a fourth straight Native Diver.

Skinner’s last major action came in a second-place finish behind Mr. Fisk in the 2023 Native Diver. After that race, Shirreffs gave Skinner almost a year off to recover from a knee injury. Skinner returned Nov. 1 and finished second in an allowance race on the Breeders’ Cup undercard.

“Berrios did a great job,” said trainer John Shirreffs of the jockey who had ridden Skinner once before – finishing fifth in the 2023 Pacific Classic.

“When you looked at the past performances, there was a lot of speed in this race,” Shirreffs continued. “He didn’t let him drop back too far. He hustled a little bit out of the gate then got a nice position and waited. He crept up, then he went to riding Skinner.”

“The last time I worked Skinner, I felt very, very good,” said Berrios. “I noticed a different horse. Now that I know the horse, I asked him to respond and he moved. I liked it today. I tried to wait for the middle of the race.

“He moved straight and he responded. When we got to the front, he was looking around a little … he was watching the other horses. But he is much better. Maybe he is finally feeling more comfortable.”

Tarantino (Edwin Maldonado) broke on top and held a narrow lead on Mixto (Antonio Fresu) into the far turn. Mixto took the lead from Tarantino at the head of the stretch. But Skinner was coming fast on the outside.

In the day’s finale, a victory by 35-1 long shot Call Sign Seven (Kyle Frey, $75.80) scrambled the Pick 5 and Pick Six competitions. The Pick Five paid $43,509.50 while there was no winner in the Pick Six with a $88,557 carryover.

Grass is green

The season-ending Turf Festival officially begins Sunday with the Grade III Red Carpet Stakes — a 1 3/8-mile test for older fillies and mares.

The Red Carpet was formerly run on Thanksgiving Day. But Del Mar won’t be open on Thanksgiving this year, ending a Southern California tradition that dates back to 1981 and the first fall meeting at Hollywood Park.

The morning-line favorite for the Red Carpet is Forever After All – the first of many horses that will ship in from eastern tracks to compete in the seven graded stakes of the Turf Festival.

Forever After All is one of three “shippers” entered in the Red Carpet. Also coming in from Keeneland are the Graham Motion-trained Marksman Queen (Umberto Rispoli) and the Jonathan Thomas-trained Mrs. Astor (Vincent Cheminaud).

Hernandez will be aboard Brendan Walsh’s Forever After All, a 5-year-old daughter of Connect, who finished second in her last start – the Grade III Dowager Stakes on Oct. 20 at Keeneland.

“She did everything but win,” Walsh said of Forever After All’s last race. “She finished second to a really good filly (Chop Chop). It was a very good run and we weren’t surprised.”

Hernandez previously was on Forever After All last May 27 when she ventured west for the first time to finish third in the Grade I Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita (won by Anisette, Del Mar’s Filly of the Meet for the 2023 summer meeting).

Marksman Queen ran second in her most recent start in an allowance race at Keeneland on Oct. 13 and is the second favorite Sunday. Mrs. Astor, who ran fourth in the Dowager, is the third favorite.

The Turf Festival resumes Friday with the Grade II Hollywood Turf Cup. There will be three graded stakes on the grass next Saturday — the Grade I Hollywood Derby, the Grade II Seabiscuit and the Grade III Jimmy Durante. The fall meeting and Turf Festival ends next Sunday (Dec. 1) with the Grade I Matriarch, the Grade III Cecil B. DeMille and the $100,000 Stormy Liberal.

The 129 nominees for the eight Turf Festival races includes 24 horses being shipped in from eastern tracks.

Notable

Cheminaud, who regularly rides at Churchill Downs and Woodbine, scored the first Del Mar win of his career Saturday in his first race ever at the track aboard the John Sadler-trained Certitude ($7.60) in the third race.

Mixto, who more recently ran 11th here Nov. 2 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is the early second-favorite among six older horses entered in the $100,000 Grade III Native Diver Stakes.

Mixto will carry the high weight of 125 pounds in the 1⅛-mile race. But he will have a hot hand back in the saddle in Antonio Fresu.

Fresu, who took the lead in the fall jockey standings by winning three straight races Friday, had been aboard Mixto for seven straight races before Kyle Frey rode the 4-year-old son of Good Magic in both the Pacific Classic and Breeders’ Cup Classic.

A 22-to-1 long shot, Mixto ran down Full Serrano in the stretch to win the Pacific Classic.

Trainer Doug O’Neill called the Breeders’ Cup Classic a tough spot for Mixto.

“The race was the best of the best,” said O’Neill. “It just wasn’t his day. Fortunately, he came out of it in good shape.”

Mixto is the narrow 5-2 second-favorite to Ultra Power (2-1, Juan Hernandez) in the Native Diver. Tarantino (Edwin Maldonado, 3-1) is the third pick.

Trainer Bob Baffert will have Mirahmadi and Ultra Power in the field as he seeks a fourth straight Native Diver win. A 3-year-old son of Curlin, Ultra Power scored a seven-length win in a Aug. 31 allowance race at Del Mar.

Long shot scores

Miz Clubcall, a 24-1 bomber, rallied from fifth in the stretch and ran down favorite Wishtheyallcouldbe near the finish to win Friday’s feature. Armando Ayuso scored his second straight win (also Freya, $10, in the sixth) with Miz Clubcall ($50) while denying Fresu a fourth win on the afternoon.

Thanks to Miz Clubcall, one winner claimed a Pick Six worth $39,114. The Pick Five paid $11,344.

Notable

Breaking from the inside post in her first career start, Scroll Up threw jockey Tiago Pereira as she crashed through the inside portable rail shortly after the start of the sixth race. The 2-year-old filly ran inside and parallel to the rail along the backstretch, then turned deeper into the infield after reaching the turf chute. She was later brought under control by a worker after running across the asphalt. Scroll Up was uninjured.

•Great call by track announcer Larry Collmus as Rosa Parks opened up a solid lead in the stretch of Friday’s second race: “Rose Parks found the front and she’s not moving,” Collmus said of the horse named for the icon of the civil rights movement.

• Frey drew a three-day suspension (Nov. 29-Dec. 1) for failing to maintain a straight course aboard Jimmy Blue Jeans in last Sunday’s third race. Jimmy Blue Jeans won the race, but was disqualified and placed second after forcing Sarwar wide in the stretch.

• Fresu’s three wins Friday were aboard Rosa Parks ($4.40), Touchdown Brown ($4.20 in the third) and Caribbean King ($11.20 in the fourth). He now leads with 11 wins during the fall meeting to 10 for Umberto Rispoli. Defending champion Juan Hernandez and Pereira are tied for third with eight wins apiece.

• Meanwhile, Mark Glatt picked up one win Friday (Touchdown Brown) to give him eight for the meeting and a two-race lead over Phil D’Amato, who had two wins Friday – Rosa Parks and Sbagliato (Rispoli, $5.20, in the eighth).

Case in point: Saturday’s featured $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes.

A week ago, there was a question if the Arnaz would even draw the needed five entries to be a race, leading Baffert to quip: “Where are all the 2-year-olds?”

Only eight 2-year-old fillies were nominated for the seven-furlong run on the dirt. Six of those were from Baffert’s stable. Then, four of the five official entrants were trained by Baffert — his investment saving the race from being scratched from the program.

Then on Saturday morning, Baffert scratched Del Mar Debutante winner Tenma. The number of starters was reduced to four. Baffert still had three of them — led by 1-2 favorite Silent Law and second-favorite Mawu.

And the winner was Practical Dream, the only filly in the field not trained by Baffert, whose fillies ran 2-3-4.

Trained by Tim Yakteen, Practical Dream, ridden by Antonio Fresu, finished 1¼ lengths ahead of Silent Law (Juan Hernandez) with Mawu (Kazushi Kimura) third. Both Practical Dream (stumbled slightly) and Silent Law (veered inside into Two Bar) had problems leaving the gate but were quickly 1-2 with Practical Dream ($10.60) taking the lead for good around a quarter-mile into the race.

“Our filly was sharp today and she’s only going to improve with distance,” said Yakteen, Baffert’s close friend and former top aide. “She obviously showed up today.”

“In her last race at Santa Anita, she broke a little slow and I had to steady her,” Fresu said of his runner-up finish to Silent Dream on Oct. 25 in the Anoakia Stakes. “Today, she recovered quickly after stumbling and traveled well from there. She ran her race today.”

The win was the first of two Saturday for Fresu, boosting him into the lead of the jockey standings for the fall meeting. He has eight wins, two more than five jockeys tied for second — Hernandez, Kimura, Umberto Rispoli, Hector Berrios and Tiago Pereira.

Sunday’s feature will be the Bob Hope Stakes — the male half of the paired seven-furlong, $100,000 stakes for 2-year-olds. The narrow, 8-5 morning line favorite in the field of six colts is Bullard, a son of Gun Runner. Rispoli will again be aboard the Michael McCarthy-trained Bullard, who won his debut Sept. 1 at Del Mar.

Baffert will have two horses in the field in early second-favorite Kalea Bay (Hernandez) and Madaket Road (Fresu). A son of Authentic, Kalea Bay scored his first win in three starts by 8½ lengths over six furlongs at Santa Anita on Sept. 28. Maraket Road, a son of Quality Road, is making his debut.

Kalea Bay was a $700,000 purchase. Bullard drew $675,000 and Maraket Road $650,000.

The most successful entrant to date in the field is McKinzie Street (Kimura). The Yakteen-trained son of McKinzie ran second to Gaming in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 8 then finished third in the Grade I American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 5. McKinzie Street, the early second favorite, finished four lengths ahead of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile champion Citizen Bull over the Del Mar surface in the Futurity.

Training fatality

Elector, a 6-year-old gelding trained by Sean Williams, was euthanized Saturday morning after suffering an inoperable right front ankle injury in training. Elector had made 17 career starts with three wins, a second and a third.