Woke Up Dreamin, a 3-year-old colt by Holy Bull owned by Mike Pegram and trained by Bob Baffert, will replace the injured Oopstheregoes as one of the two horses set for Sunday's match race pitting leading Del Mar riders Julie Krone and Patrick Valenzuela.
The second horse scheduled to run is Chester's Choice, a son of Afternoon Deelites owned by Robert Rupert and trained by Summer Mayberry. Both colts are 3 and they have only one lifetime victory each. Each horse will carry 118 pounds and will be in for a claiming price of $300,000, up $100,000 from the original announced claiming price.
Billed as "The Battle of the Sexes," the race will be at 8 1/2 furlongs on the main track. A special draw ceremony will be held Thursday at 11:45 a.m. in the Del Mar paddock/walking ring. The horses, riders and trainers will join Tom Robbins, vice president, racing, and racing secretary, and staff for the blind draw to assign riders to the horses.
The race will be the fourth on Sunday's 10-race card and will feature win wagering only. It will be part of daily doubles, Pick 3s and the Place Pick All. In the case of the last named wager, the second horse must finish the race to be part of the Place Pick All. The race will not be a part of the Pick Six.
As the meeting winds down to its finale Sept. 10, Valenzuela holds a commanding lead in the jockeys' race to the riding title with 44 victories, just two short of last year's championship total. Krone is second in the standings with 36 wins.