It is possible that by the end of the current meeting on Sept. 7, trainer Phil D’Amato will rank among the five all-time leading stakes winners at Del Mar.
D’Amato swept the track’s two stakes on Saturday, both at a mile on turf, when Almendares won the $102,500 Wickerr Stakes and Thought Process glided home in the Grade 2 San Clemente Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
Through Saturday, D’Amato, 49, has 67 career stakes wins at Del Mar, ranking seventh on the all-time list. He is within range of catching two legends in Charles Whittingham (74 wins) and Bobby Frankel (70). They rank fifth and sixth. Bob Baffert is the all-time leader with 178 wins.
Considering the depth of D’Amato’s stable, particularly on turf, catching Frankel is possible in coming weeks.
“That would be something because I hold him in the very very highest esteem,” D’Amato said of Frankel.
Catching Whittingham would equate to a stellar meeting, but the sort of season D’Amato can have. D’Amato won eight stakes at the 2024 Del Mar summer meeting.
D’Amato has the benefit of racing at two meetings per year at Del Mar, including the autumn meeting. Racing began in the autumn at Del Mar in 2014, long after the deaths of Whittingham in 1999 and Frankel in 2009.
Almendares and Thought Process are slated to return in graded stakes on Labor Day weekend.
Almendares, who won his first stakes in the Wickerr, is likely to start in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 30.
In the Wickerr Stakes, Almendares overcame traffic to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the 2-1 favorite. It was the 5-year-old gelding’s first start since a fourth-place finish by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita on March 1.
“He likes Del Mar and he runs well fresh,” D’Amato said. “Keep him sharp and happy and he runs his best. I think the little break did him good.”
Almendares races for the partnership of John Rochfort, Ian McLean, Saul Gevertz, Michael Nentwig and Ray Pagano.
Thought Process is the leading contender for the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Aug. 16.
In the $202,000 San Clemente Stakes, Thought Process won for the fifth time in her seventh start as the 2-5 favorite, stalking the pace before taking the lead on the turn. She won by 1 3/4 lengths for the most prestigious victory of her career, which includes three stakes wins.
“I was happy with how she won and was composed the whole way,” D’Amato said. “To me, she was galloping through the stretch.”
Thought Process races for the partnership of the family of the late Brereton Jones, Little Red Feather Racing and Madaket Stables.
Friday’s opening day of the summer meeting did not go as well for D’Amato when Iron Man Cal finished second in the Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds after stumbling at the start. Iron Man Cal, the 1-2 favorite, closed from eighth of 10 in the final furlong to finish a half-length behind upset winner Game Warrior.
The next objective for Iron Man Cal is the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Aug. 30, D’Amato said. The $100,000 La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf on Aug. 3 will arrive too soon and could leave Iron Man Cal vulnerable to a disappointing effort in the Del Mar Derby, he said.
“If you run in the La Jolla, it’s tough on them,” D’Amato said. “They fall flat in the Del Mar Derby.”
Next weekend, D’Amato has Balnikhov and Gold Phoenix scheduled to run in Sunday’s Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf, a race the stable has won four times in the last nine years.
Stronghold, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April 2024, is nominated to two stakes on Saturday – the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs, and the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles.
D’Amato said on Sunday that he has yet to decide on race plans for Stronghold.
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