Richard Baltas is back.
The trainer scored with favored Ag Bullet Sunday afternoon in the co-featured Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar.
Veteran Mike Smith rode First Peace to victory in the Wickerr Stakes — the second $100,000, one-mile test on the turf — scoring his 81st stakes victory at Del Mar.
Ag Bullet was the first entry and win at Del Mar since 2021 for the 63-year-old Baltas, a three-time training champion at the seaside oval.
Under Umberto Rispoli, Ag Bullet took the lead shortly after the start and finished 3½ lengths ahead of Hang the Moon in the race for older fillies and mares.
Ag Bullet has won three of her last four starts with all the wins coming with Rispoli, who has won five races on the turf in the first two days of the summer meeting.
“I love it here at Del Mar and I like the turf course a lot,” said Rispoli.
“I know this place has a lot of history and it’s such a beautiful place. It reminds me of a place where I used to ride in Italy, Livorno. Just like here, you could go across the street there and swim.”
Rispoli said he was happy to win the race for Baltas. And the trainer said he was happy to win his 21st stakes at Del Mar for co-owners Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran.
“They been with me a long time and stayed with me,” said Baltas.
As for Ag Bullet, the 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy danced a bit in the gate before the start, then took control.
“I really think that she’s relaxing more,” Baltas said.
“The trick with her is getting her to relax,” said Rispoli. “she was up front right away, but she was relaxed. Richard and I have talked and tried to figure out the best distance for her. This was good today.”
In the Wickerr, First Peace and Astronomer ran fourth and fifth off a very fast pace then moved on the far turn to finish 1-2, respectively, as the leaders faltered. First Peace won by 1¼ lengths.
“First Peace got the perfect set up today,” said winning trainer Mark Glatt. “It helps when three horses blast away from you. They got away from him enough to where it probably help Mike settle him back a bit. That was extremely impressive.”
“I think First Peace has been telling us he wants to go farther,” said Smith. “That was the key. This is my fourth trip with him. We’re learning a lot about first Peace as he gets older. He’s getting more mature and learning how to relax. He’s growing up as a 4-year-old.”
Three of Del Mar’s top horses of the 2023 summer meeting are expected to return to action at the seaside oval next weekend.
Reigning Pacific Classic champion Arabian Knight, voted the Horse of the Meet last summer, is scheduled to make his 2024 debut next Saturday (July 27) in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap.
Gold Phoenix, Del Mar’s top Older Horse and Grass Horse in 2023, could make a defense of his Eddie Read Stakes title next Sunday (July 28).
And Southern California favorite The Chosen Vron is the probable favorite as the defending champion of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday (July 27). The 6-year-old gelding was voted Del Mar’s Top Sprinter in 2023 en route to being the top Cal-bred horse of 2023.
The Chosen Vron has won all four of his 2024 starts at Santa Anita and triumphed in 13 of his last 14 races dating back to September of 2022. The lone setback was a fifth-place finish in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint. The son of Vronsky has 18 wins, a second-place finish and two third-place finishes in 23 career starts for earnings of $1.42 million.
Hector Berrios is the anointed rider of The Chosen Vron, who also won the Cary Grant Stakes last fall at Del Mar. The chosen Vron worked four furlongs in 47.2 seconds Sunday morning.
After defeating the late Geaux Rocket at the wire in the Pacific Classic, Arabian Knight finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo hasn’t raced since then.
Gold Phoenix won two Grade 2 stakes at Del Mar last summer – the Eddie Read in July and the Del Mar Handicap in September before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita. The Phil D’Amato-trained gelding won the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham at Santa Anita in May.
• Del Mar suffered its first fatality of the meeting. Giver Not a Taker was euthanized in the barn area after pulling up in the 10th race with a fractured right front fetlock.
• Trainer Bob Baffert debuted his first 2-year-old of the meeting Sunday and Casalu, a $775,000 purchase, won her five-furlong debut by five lengths. The daughter of Caracaro went off as the 2-to-5 favorite.
• Trainer Doug O’Neill had three winners Sunday – J B Strikes Back ($9.00 in the second), Nyce Going ($6.60 in the eighth) and Ultimate ($7.00) in the 10th.
• Jockey Diego Herrera was tossed to the ground over the head of The Big Cheeseola as the 4-year-old gelding stumbled badly leaving the gate in the sixth race. Herrera was cleared to continue racing.
• Salesman, a 7-year-old bred in Ireland, has been established as the early favorite in Thursday’s 73rd running of the $100,000 Grade III Cougar II Stakes, a 1½-mile marathon on the main track. This will be the second start of 2024 for the Richard Mandella trained import who won a marathon on the Breeders’ Cup undercard last November.
• The 22 races over the first two days drew an average of 9.45 horses per race.
