After watching Sharp Samurai's standout score in the Twilight Derby (G2T) at Santa Anita Park, trainer Mark Glatt admits he had second thoughts.
He didn't think Sharp Samurai was quite ready for the Breeders' Cup, but after watching the 3-year-old First Samurai gelding win so impressively a week before the World Championships, he couldn't help but wonder how his trainee would have fared.
"Up until his performance before the Breeders' Cup, I think it would have been ambitious to think he fit," Glatt said of Sharp Samurai, who he owns in partnership with Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal. "But given his performance in the Twilight Derby, it made me think a little bit. I didn't dwell on it, but it sure crossed my mind."
The 2 3/4-length Twilight Derby score was the best race of Sharp Samurai's career—and against his toughest competition yet—but it also didn't come out of nowhere. It was his fourth straight stakes win, including tight scores over the summer at Del Mar in the La Jolla Handicap (G3T) and Del Mar Derby (G2T).
NOVAK-CROSBY: Sharp Samurai Sharper Than Ever in Twilight Derby
Sharp Samurai will hit the Del Mar turf once again in the $300,000 Hollywood Derby (G1T) Nov. 25. Five from the Twilight Derby will be back to challenge in the Hollywood Derby—Big Score (second), Bowies Hero (third), Channel Maker (fourth), Just Howard (sixth), and Ann Arbor Eddie (seventh).
"He's really developed into something quite nice, and his races at Del Mar were really wide—(jockey) Gary (Stevens) just wanted to get him into the clear," said Glatt, who also saddled Blackjackcat to a third-place run in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T). "He gave up a lot of ground in those races. I thought those wins down there were easier than they looked on paper."
New faces in the Hollywood Derby crowd are graded winners Mo Town and Souper Tapit, who are both invading from the East Coast.
Coolmore and Team D's Mo Town earned his graded stakes on the dirt at Aqueduct Racetrack in the 2016 Remsen Stakes (G2), but went winless in four starts following that effort until the Uncle Mo colt found new life in his first start on grass Oct. 12. In an optional-claiming allowance at Belmont Park, Mo Town stalked the early pace and blew away six others to win by 6 1/2 lengths at odds of 7-2.
Live Oak Plantation's homebred Souper Tapit got his graded victory in the May 28 Marine Stakes (G3) on the Woodbine synthetic. He returned from a nearly five-month layoff to run seventh in the English Channel Stakes (his first turf try) and most recently finished third in an optional-claiming allowance Nov. 11 at Aqueduct, but both trips featured plenty of trouble.
The second turf race on Del Mar's final Saturday card of the fall is the $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) for 2-year-old fillies. Thirteen are entered for the one-mile turf test, including stakes winners One Fast Broad, Raucous, Multiplayer, and Fatale Bere. Fatale Bere, who won her U.S. debut in the Oct. 9 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita, finished fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) last time out, 2 1/2 lengths behind winner Rushing Fall.
Del Mar, Saturday, November 25, 2017, Race 7Entries: Hollywood Derby (G1T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Ann Arbor Eddie (CA) Mario Gutierrez 122 Doug F. O'Neill 20/1 2 2Bowies Hero (KY) Kent J. Desormeaux 122 Philip D'Amato 6/1 3 3Channel Maker (ON) Javier Castellano 122 William I. Mott 5/1 4 4Sharp Samurai (KY) Gary L. Stevens 122 Mark Glatt 5/2 5 5Ritzy A. P. (KY) Drayden Van Dyke 122 Dan Blacker 20/1 6 6Souper Tapit (FL) Jose Lezcano 122 Mark E. Casse 12/1 7 7Mo Town (KY) John R. Velazquez 122 Anthony W. Dutrow 3/1 8 8Just Howard (MD) Feargal Lynch 122 H. Graham Motion 12/1 9 9Big Score (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Tim Yakteen 4/1
Del Mar, Saturday, November 25, 2017, Race 9Entries: Jimmy Durante S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Casino Red (IRE) Rafael Bejarano 120 Patrick Gallagher 12/1 2 2Daddy Is a Legend (PA) Joe Bravo 120 George Weaver 9/2 3 3One Fast Broad (CA) Corey S. Nakatani 122 Mick Ruis 12/1 4 4Lexington Grace (IRE) Gary L. Stevens 120 Ian Kruljac 15/1 5 5Raucous (KY) Flavien Prat 124 Christophe Clement 5/1 6 6Multiplayer (KY) Tyler Baze 120 Tim Yakteen 20/1 7 7Ever So True (KY) John R. Velazquez 118 Peter Miller 12/1 8 8Deep Breath (IRE) Tiago Josue Pereira 120 Eoin G. Harty 20/1 9 9Sappho (IRE) Kent J. Desormeaux 120 Philip D'Amato 15/1 10 10Just a Smidge (KY) Drayden Van Dyke 120 Bob Baffert 15/1 11 11Data Dependent (KY) Javier Castellano 120 Chad C. Brown 6/1 12 12Thewayiam (FR) Feargal Lynch 120 H. Graham Motion 6/1 13 13Fatale Bere (FR) Mike E. Smith 124 Leonard Powell 4/1
