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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.”

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Totals for Santa Anita and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets since Dec. 26

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 87

Antonio Fresu / 66

Hector Berrios / 63

Umberto Rispoli / 63

Armando Ayuso / 55

Kyle Frey / 49

Tiago Pereira / 45

Flavien Prat / 44

Kazushi Kimura / 36

Edwin Maldonado / 28

Trainers / Wins

Mark Glatt / 46

Bob Baffert / 43

Phil D’Amato / 41

Michael McCarthy / 35

John Sadler / 35

Jeff Mullins / 34

Steve Knapp / 32

Doug O’Neill / 32

Richard Baltas / 20

Bob Hess Jr. / 20

UPCOMING STAKES

DEL MAR

Friday

• $100,000 Oceanside Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile on turf

Saturday

• $200,000, Grade II San Clemente Handicap, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf

• $100,000 Wickerr Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf

Sunday

• $100,000 Osunitas Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Fans at Del Mar on opening weekend will keep an eye on Monmouth Park in New Jersey, where California’s best horse will be racing Saturday. Journalism (Umberto Rispoli riding) is 4-5 on the morning line against seven other 3-year-olds going 1⅛ miles in the $1 million, Grade I Haskell Stakes. It’s the Michael McCarthy-trained Santa Anita Derby and Preakness winner’s return from a short break following his second to Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes. The top competition comes from three horses Journalism has outrun before: 4-1 Goal Oriented (Flavien Prat), a bumpy fourth in the Preakness; 9-2 Gosger (Luis Saez), caught at the wire at Pimlico, and Burnham Square (Brian Hernandez Jr.), sixth in the Kentucky Derby while Sovereignty and Journalism ran first and second. Goal Oriented could give trainer Bob Baffert his 10th Haskell win.

• Journalism’s next shot at Sovereignty could come in the Aug. 23 Travers at Saratoga. Sovereignty is scheduled to return in the July 26 Jim Dandy at Saratoga.

• The first four stakes of Del Mar’s July 18-Sept. 7 season all are 1-mile turf races. The distance gives an advantage to horses from inside posts, and winners have often made their moves turning for home. That won’t hurt the chances of 9-5 morning-line favorite Iron Man Cal and Antonio Fresu, who can save ground from post 3 and rally against Day and Age and Mike Smith.

• Ten people to watch at Del Mar based on their history there and recent form: Jockeys Juan Hernandez, Fresu, Rispoli, Hector Berrios and Kazushi Kimura, and trainers Phil D’Amato, Baffert, John Sadler, Mark Glatt and Doug O’Neill.

• Additions to the Del Mar betting menu this season: A third pick-four (on races 4-7 on opening day and weekends), a $3 minimum pick-three with lower-than-normal 15% takeout (last three races each day), and a $5 minimum double with 15% takeout (last two races daily). All of the races in the $3 pick-three Friday drew 10 or more entries, as did all of the races in the late pick-five; this would be the first time in more than two months at a California track that 10-plus horses started in any three consecutive races.

• Breeders’ Cup prospect watch: Far Bridge ($3.10) and jockey Joel Rosario dominated the Grade II Bowling Green for trainer Miguel Clement at Saratoga on Saturday. The 5-year-old jumped to No. 10 in this week’s National Thoroughbred Racing Association rankings and is a leading U.S. contender for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 1. The Breeders’ Cup is Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

— Kevin Modesti

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.

(Final)

Jockeys / Wins

Kazushi Kimura / 10

Diego Herrera / 9

Tiago Pereira / 6

Kyle Frey / 6

Armando Ayuso / 5

Juan Hernandez / 4

Armando Aguilar / 4

Trainers / Wins

Peter Miller / 6

Steve Knapp / 6

Leonard Powell / 3

Tim Yakteen / 3

Doug O’Neill / 3

Genaro Vallejo / 3

DOWN THE STRETCH

• The summer racing season begins in earnest this week with the start of the July 10-Sept. 1 Saratoga season, followed next week by the opening of the July 18-Sept. 7 Del Mar meet. Prestigious Saratoga’s 17 Grade I flat races include the Whitney on Aug. 2, which could draw top-ranked Mindframe, his Repole stablemate Fierceness, as well as Sierra Leone and White Abarrio; the Travers for 3-year-olds on Aug. 23, likely to be the next start for Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Sovereignty; and the same day’s Personal Ensign for fillies and mares, a target for reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. Saratoga will have huge implications for the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar. In 2024, the nine North America-based Breeders’ Cup race winners at Del Mar included six horses who raced at Saratoga that summer – including Classic winner Sierra Leone and Distaff winner Thorpedo Anna – and two who raced at Del Mar during the summer.

• This is a week off for California thoroughbred racing. Del Mar will take entries Sunday for its Friday, July 18, opening-day card, featuring the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds.

• Kazushi Kimura wrapped up his first jockeys title at a Southern California track on Sunday, finishing the Los Alamitos thoroughbred meet with one more win, 10-9, than Diego Herrera. Peter Miller and Steve Knapp tied for the trainers title with six wins each.

• Sweet Azteca’s $9 win over Kopion in the Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Al on Saturday earned the 5-year-old mare her first votes of 2025 in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll. Sweet Azteca is ranked No. 13 this week, while Kopion slipped from No. 9 to No. 11.

• In Los Alamitos quarter-horse racing, Stanley Cartel and jockey Armando Cervantes won the 400-yard Vessels Maturity on Sunday night, leading all the way in a $10.80 upset of runner-up London Toby. It’s the first Grade I victory for the 4-year-old colt and trainer Ramiro Castillo.

• Journalism, the Santa Anita Derby and Preakness winner, tops the nominees for the $1 million, Grade I Haskell Stakes at Monmouth on July 18. That would be the colt’s first start since finishing second to Sovereignty in the June 7 Belmont Stakes.

— Kevin Modesti

She outran Kopion, who came into the $200,000, Grade II Great Lady M. Stakes as the division leader and the bettors’ 1-5 favorite in a field of six fillies and mares.

She also outdid herself, covering 6½ furlongs on Los Al’s dirt oval in a track-record 1:14.32 – one one-hundredth of a second faster than the mark she set in winning the Great Lady M. last year.

“On the gallop-out, I heard the announcer say something about (the record),” jockey Juan Hernandez said in the winner’s circle. “I didn’t know if I was close (to the record) or if she broke it again. Then I saw that time and I was like, ‘Man, she’s a super filly.’“

Sweet Azteca, a gray 5-year-old mare, paid $9 as the 7-2 second choice on the tote board after leading from starting gate to finish line.

Kopion and jockey Kazushi Kimura were second all the way and finished 1½ lengths behind the winner and two lengths ahead of third-place Chismosa and Kyle Frey. Kimura had to swerve to the inside for the stretch run after Hernandez let Sweet Azteca float wide turning into the stretch. No objection was lodged, and Hernandez’s maneuver wasn’t why Sweet Azteca won.

Kopion’s trainer, Richard Mandella, gave credit to the winner after talking with Kimura following the race.

“He said she did everything right and ran hard,” Mandella told Steve Andersen of the Daily Racing Form. “The other filly is a good filly.”

Most of the attention before the race had gone to Kopion, a 4-year-old filly who came in with three memorable 7-furlong stakes wins in a row: a 37-1 upset in the La Brea at Santa Anita in December, a swift runaway in the Santa Monica at Santa Anita in February and a rally to a mild upset in the Derby City Distaff on Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs in May.

Even Sweet Azteca’s trainer, Richard Baltas, conceded the focus on Kopion was “100%” deserved.

But Baltas said he’d been “95%” confident of Sweet Azteca’s chances.

“One thing my filly had over his was that she had a race over the track, the track record here, so obviously she likes the surface,” Baltas said. “Maybe we were just a little bit better today than (Kopion).”

It was the first start of 2025 and the first in Baltas’ name for Sweet Azteca, who’d been transferred by owner Pamela Ziebarth from Michael McCarthy’s barn while she was laid off following a fourth-place finish at 1-10 odds in the Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita in October.

Baltas called the win a relief.

“You get a horse from another trainer, and the horse has done so well, everybody has expectations. You have to keep it together. You have pressure on you,” said Baltas, who’d had to skip an earlier comeback option in June after Sweet Azteca suffered a cut on a leg.

“What if she runs bad?”

That fear went unrealized. The towering Sweet Azteca snapped right back to the form that carried her to four straight wins at one point in 2024, including the Grade I Beholder Mile at Santa Anita and that year’s Great Lady M. Stakes.

“I think she won the race out of the gate,” said Hernandez, who let Sweet Hernandez set quarter-mile fractions of 21.95 and 43.87 seconds, similar to a year earlier. “I think Richie did a great job with her, bringing her to the race great.”

Baltas said he could consider running Sweet Azteca next in the Aug. 23 Ballerina at Saratoga, and his ultimate goal is the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar.

The Great Lady M. was the highlight of the three-week Los Alamitos thoroughbred meet that ends Sunday.

The jockey and trainer standings are close going into the nine-race closing day. Kimura leads Diego Herrera, 10 wins to 8. Steve Knapp leads Peter Miller, 6-5.

It’s hard to beat Hernandez’s Los Al season, though. He won all three stakes, riding Kings River Knight in the Bertrando Stakes and Nevada Beach in the Los Alamitos Derby before Sweet Azteca on Saturday.

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