Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes
Win and you’re in. Doesn’t it sound easy? But the $300,000 Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday, a six-furlong test on the main track for three-year-olds and up, will be anything but. It won’t give up its free pass to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint back here in November easily.
Bing Crosby was, among other famous things, one of the men who helped create the shape and soul of Del Mar racecourse, and he is remembered in a sprint that has drawn the pick of the west-coast speedsters, prime among them CZ Rocket (5-2), who has already been there to the BC Sprint and almost done that.
The seven-year-old was runner-up to Whitmore in the big one at Keeneland last November, with today’s rival Collusion Illusion way down the field. Last time out he stretched out to a mile at Lone Star Park but stretched too far, and will be much happier and more productive back at this trip, and looks the likely winner.
The Mark Glatt-trained Collusion Illusion (4-1) is better than he showed at Keeneland, something he demonstrated when winning this race 12 months ago (reopposing stablemate Law Abidin Citizen (12-1) a length and a quarter off in third) but not since, and he hasn’t been sighted all year. He’ll be better next time, as will Vertical Threat (8-1), unbeaten at this trip on dirt but hidden from the public for almost a calendar year, but one, for now, could be Dr. Schivel (7-2), the third element of trainer Glatt’s strong entry.
Dr. Schivel returned to the stage
Twice a winner at Del Mar last summer, including in the Grade 1 Futurity, Dr. Schivel returned to the stage at Santa Anita last month and won an allowance optional claimer by a neck. Still open to any amount of improvement with just five races on his record, he’ll be suited by the fierce pace likely to be set by the in-form Brickyard Ride (7-2, who will have to work early from his outside post) and Quick Tempo (12-1), although whether he has the chops to turn back the seasoned CZ Rocket is debatable.
| Horse | Jockey | Odds courtesy of Jazzsports |
| SHOOTERS SHOOT | Trevor McCarthy | +1500 |
| VERTICAL THREAT | Joe Bravo | +800 |
| C Z ROCKET | Florent Geroux | +250 |
| LAW ABIDIN CITIZEN | Wayne A. Barnett | +1200 |
| QUICK TEMPO | Umberto Rispoli | +1200 |
| COLLUSION ILUSION | Tyler Baze | +400 |
| EIGHT RINGS | Abel Cedillo | +1000 |
| DR SCHIVEL | Flavien Prat | +350 |
| BRICKYARD RIDE | Juan J. Hernandez | +350 |
Grade 1 Clement L Hirsch Stakes
The highlight of Sunday’s Del Mar festivities is the $300,000 Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes over a mile and one-sixteenth, for distaff three-year-olds and up on the main track, another ‘win-and-in race, this time for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Last year’s Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil, who also took home the Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs in April, must bounce back from defeat in the Ogden Phipps Stakes last time out. She is a proven Grade 1 winner, though, something that As Time Goes By has yet to confirm despite her place performance in the Beholder Mile in March, although victory in a pair of Grade 2s at Santa Anita this spring hints that she might be getting there soon.
Venetian Harbor is a solid Grade 2 performer who has been knocking on the door at the top level, but until she makes that breakthrough it’s probably wiser to stay on the side of the angels and stick with the ‘Devil’.
| Horse | Jockey | Odds courtesy of Jazzsports |
| WARREN’S SHOWTIME | Juan J. Hernandez | |
| CLOCKSTRIKESTWELVE | Kyle Frey | |
| AS TIME GOES BY | Mike E. Smith | |
| PAIGE ANNE | Favien Prat | |
| COVER VERSION | Abel Cedillo | |
| VENETIAN HARBOR | Mario Gutierrez | |
| SHEDARESTHEDEVIL | Florent Geroux |
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