DMTC News – From the Wire

Stable Notes July 30, 2026

Jim Charvat —-

GOLD PHOENIX IN GOOD ORDER, EYES NEXT MONTH’S DEL MAR ‘CAP

Gold Phoenix is a unique Thoroughbred. Not only does he win big races but he continues to do it at an age when most horses are retired from racing and enjoying a second life. He was gelded early in his career. Since he can no longer produce babies there’s no rush to get him to the breeding shed so he continues to race at the ripe old age of 8-years-old.

Sunday the Irish-bred son of Belardo became the first horse in the 89-year history of Del Mar to win six stakes races. Four of those have come in the past four runnings of the G2 Del Mar Handicap. This time it was the G2 Eddie Read. He rallied up the rail and got the best of the bobs in a three-horse blanket finish.

“It’s cool to win with this horse for these owners (Agave Racing Stable, Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify),” trainer Phil D’Amato states. “This was a great race to win, the Eddie Read. This is what it’s all about.”

You can tell Gold Phoenix has a special place in his conditioner’s heart.

“He’s right up there with Obviously, my Breeders’ Cup winner,” D’Amato claims. “They’re a dead-heat. They give it to you every time. This guy just does it in fine fashion.”

The chestnut veteran came out of the Eddie Read in good order and has already begun the preparations and lead up to an attempt at an unprecedented feat, winning the Del Mar Handicap for a fifth straight year.

He spent the first part of the week walking the shedrow and recovering from the race. Today (Thursday) he went out for a jog which he will continue to do through the weekend before galloping for another week or so. By then Gold Phoenix should be ready to put in his first work toward the Del Mar Handicap on August 29.

“The pressure is really going to be on for the next race.” D’Amato admits. “Hopefully we have a nice, fresh, sound horse for five in a row in the Del Mar Handicap.”

Older horses, like older humans, like to stick to their routines.

“No doubt,” D’Amato says. “Especially when they get older like this. They have their niche and they kind of stick to it. I trained him (for the Eddie Read) like I wasn’t going to make the race. Just keep him sharp and happy and decide whether I was going to put him in there (the Eddie Read) or breeze him up to the Del Mar Handicap.”

Sunday’s race was a nail-biter. It was so close D’Amato refused to talk to reporters in the immediate moments following the race, preferring to wait the agonizing few minutes for the stewards to separate the three horses in the photo finish.

“At midstretch I was thinking we’re going to get a piece.” D’Amato explains. “He was gaining inch by inch and Hector (Berrios) had Formidable Man well measured. I thought Formidable Man was going to kick in but the old man wouldn’t let him by.

“When Formidable Man and him hooked up,” D’Amato adds, “I could just see it in his eyes he just wasn’t going to let that horse pass him, and I think Formidable Man helped him get to the wire first.”

Even D’Amato admitted he was a bit surprised by the victory.

“This one, yeah,” D’Amato exclaims. “Coming from a mile and three quarters to a mile and an eighth you don’t see that ever. For him to do that just tells you what kind of a special horse this is.”

CAL-BREDS TAKE CENTER STAGE IN REAL GOOD DEAL STAKES FRIDAY

A talented group of Cal-breds are set to square off in the $150,000 Real Good Deal Stakes, the Friday feature at Del Mar. The 11 3-year-olds will go seven furlongs on the main track.

One of the competitors is fresh off the Derby Trail. Pavlovian is back from Kentucky where he ran last in the Kentucky Derby and then seventh of eight in the G3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs.

The connections caught Derby fever in February when the son of Pavel won the $500,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park. He followed that with a runner-up finish in the G2 Louisiana Derby in March after setting the pace and getting run down on the wire, missing by a head.

Bolstered by the two outings it was on to Louisville where Pavlovian never made the lead and was essentially eased, finishing 48 ½ lengths behind Golden Tempo in the Derby. They tried one more race in Kentucky before packing up and bringing him back home to California.

“It was different weather and a different environment,” Leondro Mora assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill noted about Pavlovian’s time in Kentucky. “It could have been mental. A lot of horses when they reach the stage of the Kentucky Derby, it’s not for all of them. He’s happier to be back in California.”

Shortening up to seven furlongs should help.

“He’s got natural speed,” Mora says. “That’s how he started out running out front. I know the race is not easy but last time we gave him a little blowout and he’s ready.”

He’ll have to contend with Ocean Bear, last year’s Golden State Juvenile winner at Del Mar on the undercard of the Friday Breeders’ Cup program. It was the son of Bolt d’Oro’s third win in a row. But he hasn’t run since so the Real Good Deal will be his 2026 / 3-year-old debut.

“He had a chip in his knee,” trainer George Papaprodromou says. “We took it out and gave him some time off and now he’s back and doing great.”

Ocean Bear beat Pavlovian in an entry level allowance race last October, coming from off the pace, as is his style.

“Hopefully a few horses will go out there a little fast,” Papaprodromou notes. “That will help us a little bit.”

The runner-up in the Los Alamitos Derby is entered in the Real Good Deal. Start the Ride won the $175,000 Cal Cup Derby at Santa Anita earlier this year, igniting a bit of Derby fever in trainer Dan Blacker’s camp.

“When he first came in he looked like a two-turn dirt horse,” Blacker explains. “Once he got to the races he showed some ability. When you have one of those type of horses in the early part of his 3-year-old year you always want to dream and hope that they can be good enough to make the big races. When he broke his maiden in a stake it was obvious we had to give him a shot in those races.”

The son of Upstart finished sixth in the G2 San Felipe and then a well beaten fifth in the G1 Santa Anita Derby and the hopes and wishes of getting to Louisville on the first Saturday in May were extinguished. Blacker shortened him up and he won an entry level allowance in May before his second at Los Al last month.

“I was disappointed he didn’t win,” Blacker admits. “He ran great, that’s the important thing. Getting back against Cal-breds again should be an easier group.”

Two lightly raced geldings could make a Real Good Deal impact. Courtside Action has run twice in his young career and won both times. He broke his maiden in a six-furlong sprint at Santa Anita, winning by 5 ½ lengths in April and then won an entry level allowance race by 4 ¼ lengths his next time out.

“I think it’s a good spot,” trainer Andy Mathis contends. “He’s exceeded our expectations from when he first started working. He didn’t show a whole bunch. But his workouts leading up to the races were getting better. Then he ran really well the first time. So, there’s been a steady progression.”

Courtside Action will have to deal with the inside post.

“Coming to Del Mar you never know if it’s going to be the same for the horse,” Mathis claims. “We’re happy with the way he’s acclimated and very happy with his last workout leading up to this race.”

That was a five-furlong work in 1:00.20 last Friday (10/58).

There’s also Lit, a winner first out at Los Alamitos earlier this month when he won by five lengths.

“We always liked him,” trainer Richard Baltas says. “We thought the race was too short but we were wrong. Seven-eighths or a mile should be best for him. The horse is training well and doing good so we’re going to take a shot.”

The Real Good Deal, named after a talented Cal-bred that dominated the state-bred races from 1963 to 1966, is Race 7 on the eight-race program Friday. Probable post is 5 p.m.

Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Courtside Action (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1); Southern Melodee (Kazushi Kimura, 30-1); King’s Ride (Juan Hernandez, 10-1); Lit (Hector I Berrios, 6-1); Party Animal (Jose Morelos, 12-1); Fumano’s Magic (Diego Herrera, 30-1); Fionello (Tiago Pereira, 20-1); Pavlovian (Edwin Maldonado, 7/2); He’s a Knockout (Joel Rosario, 5-1); Ocean Bear (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1), and Start the Ride (Armando Ayuso, 4-1).

LOGJAM ATOP JOCKEY STANDINGS AFTER TWO WEEKS AT DEL MAR

When you get as competitive a jockey colony as there is at Del Mar this year, you’re bound to get a close race in the riders’ standings. Meanwhile, Doug O’Neill has seized control of the trainers’ race and the favorites continue to struggle to get to the winner’s circle after two weeks of racing at the seaside oval.

Jockeys Juan Hernandez and Umberto Rispoli are tied atop the riders’ standings with eight wins apiece. Last week’s co-leaders each had three victories, as did Emisael Jaramillo and Kazushi Kimura, who remain just a win behind with seven.

Antonio Fresu had the best week of all of them with five victories, lifting him into fifth place with six wins. He’s followed by Hector I. Berrios with five and Armando Ayuso with four. Joel Rosario, Kyle Frey and Tyler Baze round out the Top Ten with three wins a piece. Frey won his second stakes race of the summer meet when he guided Baltic Fire to victory in the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes on Saturday. He’s tied with Rispoli for the most stakes wins.

Doug O’Neill rattled off five victories in week #2, one of which came in the G1 Bing Crosby with Listenupshance. He has nine wins on the meet. His closest competitor at five wins is Philip D’Amato, whose lone win of the week came in Sunday’s G2 Eddie Read. D’Amato is followed by Michael McCarthy and Mark Glatt with four victories.

Five trainers are knotted at three wins: Richard Mandella, winner of last week’s $100,000 Daisycutter with Amorita, Bob Baffert, Antonio Garcia, George Papaprodromou and Craig Lewis.

Five more trainers round out the Top Ten in the standings with two wins including Jeff Mullins, who won last week’s Osunitas Stakes, his second stakes win of the meet.

Paul Reddam continues to lead the owners race with $288,400 in earnings, buoyed by his horses’ four victories.

The number of winning favorites at Del Mar continues to lag well behind the national average of 33 to 35%. After 70 races this summer, only 14 post time favorites have managed to win. That’s a 20% clip. Only two of the nine stakes races have been won by the favorite, Journalism in the G2 San Diego and King of Gosford in the Wickerr.

Field sizes remain among the highest in the nation and on par with last year’s numbers. Through 70 races the AFS is 8.8. The average field size for the 33 turf races on the Jimmy Durante turf course in 2026 is 9.00.

Thirty-nine horses have qualified for the ‘Ship & Win’ program. Five of those horses have won a race.

Thirty-seven different trainers and 21 different jockeys have each won one race at the meet. 618 horses have raced through week two for 111 different trainers.

Racing resumes Thursday through Sunday. First post time daily is 2 p.m.

COOLING OUT: Journalism has left the building. The winner of the G2 San Diego, who was injured and retired after the race, shipped out Tuesday to his new home at Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud in Versailles, KY. He’ll spend the rest of the year adjusting to his new life as a stallion and begin making babies in 2027…Del Mar has a new television home. Fox Sports One will begin live coverage every race day from the seaside oval in 2027. They will also provide coverage of this year’s G1 Pacific Classic on August 22…Hejazi, a $3.5 million purchase by Zedan Racing back as a 2-year old in 2022, will return to the races Friday. The now 6-year-old son of Bernardini hasn’t raced since finishing second to Lovesick Blues in last year’s G1 Bing Crosby. He’s entered in Race 4, a second level allowance race…Notable works Thursday: Dirt – Hurricane Way (4f, :47.00); Deluge (5f, :59.80). A total of 85 horses put in official works on the main track Thursday morning. Another five worked on the turf.