Wednesday, February 17 2010
Del Mar’s Betty L. Mabee, 88, Passes
DEL MAR, CA -- Betty L. Mabee, who with her late husband, John, helped build one of the west's great Thoroughbred breeding empires and played a key role in the blossoming of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and Del Mar racetrack, died Monday (2/15/10) at about 7 p.m. at her home in nearby Rancho Santa Fe. She was 88.
Mrs. Mabee passed "peacefully and quietly," according to her son, Larry, who noted that his mother had finally succumbed to an extended illness.
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Wednesday, January 27 2010
Tedesco Assumes Role of Track Superintendent at Del Mar
Veteran track maintenance specialist Richard Tedesco has taken the reins as track superintendent at Del Mar in anticipation of the 2010 racing season, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has announced.
Tedesco, who currently serves as track superintendent for Santa Anita Park, brings more than 46 years of experience in racetrack maintenance to his new post, covering dirt, turf and engineered surfaces on racetracks and training centers around the world. He will continue his work at Santa Anita and Oak Tree in addition to overseeing Del Mar's Polytrack surface.
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Friday, September 11 2009
Five-Day Week Spurs Positives for Del Mar
"The key to most everything we did this summer was the change to the five-day race week. It was overwhelmingly popular and absolutely successful." -- Joe Harper, president and general manager, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
Del Mar's 70th racing season came to a close Wednesday and -- despite generally hard economic times nationally and a tough go in the racing industry in particular -- the seaside track just north of San Diego had some good news to report.
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Thursday, September 10 2009
Gotta Have Her Wins Palomar Handicap
Gotta Have Her, many times a bridesmaid but only once a bride in stakes competition during her hard-hitting career, disposed of that reputation with a well-earned victory in the Grade II $200,000 Palomar Handicap Wednesday, closing-day feature of the 2009 Del Mar racing season.
With regular pilot Tyler Baze in the saddle, Gotta Have Her overhauled the courageous pacesetter, Lethal Heat, in the final sixteenth with a determined rally to win by a neck in a fast 1:40 67 for the mile and one-sixteenth over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
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Five-Day Week Spurs Positives for Del Mar
"The key to most everything we did this summer was the change to the five-day race week. It was overwhelmingly popular and absolutely successful." -- Joe Harper, president and general manager, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
Del Mar's 70th racing season came to a close Wednesday and -- despite generally hard economic times nationally and a tough go in the racing industry in particular -- the seaside track just north of San Diego had some good news to report.
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Del Mar category.
Zensational Wraps Up Horse Of Meet, 3-Year-Old And Sprinter Titles
It was a three-division sweep for the super speedy Zensational in the annual media poll to crown the season’s champions conducted by Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Zensational, trained by new Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, was a unanimous choice as top sprinter of the meet and runaway choice as Horse of the Meet and top 3-year-old.
Zensational captured the Bing Crosby and Pat O’Brien sprint stakes, both Grade I events. Those dominating victories made the 3-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song a runaway winner in all three categories.
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Del Mar Stable Notes 9/9/09
READY OR NOT, DEL MAR RACING SEASON COMING TO A CLOSE
Musings while preparing to close the door on another neat season where the turf meets the surf:
The Z Factor -- Zenyatta made another of her patented runs down the Del Mar stretch to nip a gutsy Anabaa's Creation a step or two from the wire to win by a head in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes. One can almost hear trainer John Shirreffs', 'Go get 'em, Go get 'em' as his favorite mare came from her usual spot far behind to nail her 12th victory in 12 career starts. The Hirsch win also was a reprise of her 2008 effort.
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Monday, September 07 2009
Del Mar Stable Notes 9/7/09
OWNER OF CLASSIC WINNER RICHARD'S KID STILL SMILING
Arnold Zetcher was still afloat on the proverbial Cloud Nine Monday morning, not in any hurry to come down from the stunning victory his Richard's Kid scored in Sunday's Grade I, $1-million Pacific Classic before 42,549 fans.
Trainer Bob Baffert, ever the jokester, said, "I found him in the parking lot this morning."
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Thursday, September 03 2009
Del Mar Stable Notes 9/3/09
COLONEL JOHN, EINSTEIN LEAD 12 INTO SUNDAY'S PACIFIC CLASSIC
West Coast star Colonel John and Kentucky-based Einstein head a cast of 12 for Sunday's 19th version of Del Mar's Grade I, $1-million Pacific Classic, the highlight of a Labor Day weekend festival featuring 11 stakes races.
At Wednesday night's draw at L'Auberge Inn in downtown Del Mar, Colonel John, the multiple stakes winner who races for WinStar Farm, drew post position 6 in the big field and the role of morning line favorite at odds of 5-2.
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Del Mar Stable Notes 9/2/09
EINSTEIN, PARADING SHIP IN, BEGIN PACIFIC CLASSIC TRAINING
Einstein, five-time Grade I winner, including the 2009 Santa Anita Handicap, and earner of $2.7 million in purse money, and multiple graded-stakes winner Parading have been getting acquainted with Del Mar's Polytrack surface following their arrival Monday from Kentucky and New York, respectively.
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Tuesday, September 01 2009
Garrett Gomez: ‘It’s Always Been A Special Race In My Heart’
His nickname is "Go-Go" and that's what he's done in Del Mar's Grade I, $1-million Pacific Classic, a race Garrett Gomez has won four times and one he says is "special" in his life.
The four victories, of course, put him far and away ahead of any other jockey donning silks for Del Mar's signature race at 1 1/4 miles on the main track this coming Sunday. Closest to him in wins are Eddie Delahoussaye and Gary Stevens, each with two.
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Monday, August 31 2009
Nite Lead Del Mar Handicap
Spring House Repeats in Del Mar Handicap
In one of the most exciting races of the summer season, R.D. Hubbard's Spring House successfully defended his title in the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap with a nose victory over longshot Sir Dave Sunday.
Spring House, with Alex Solis in the saddle, was far back in the pack in the early stages of the marathon mile and three-eighths race over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course as Ghetto and Black Astor set a suicidal pace.
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