Del Mar 7/21

Giacomo © Emily Hufford 2005

Del Mar Days, 7/21
by Emily Hufford

Thursday was my best day working for Del Mar yet. There are times when I am wandering the backside with members of the Horse ID Department or the Notes Team that I cannot believe my good fortune and I am so grateful. When I was little I would have done anything for a chance like this. I am thankful every day. How many people are paid to do what they love?

I was supposed to meet some people and take them on a tour of the backside on Thursday morning, but unfortunately for me they didn't show up. Eventually I gave up and went wandering on my own, mostly to visit Giacomo. He only has seven more weeks of hand walking before he can return to the track for training again. That seems like a lot, but that puts him back in training in September, and that's really not that far away. I told assistant trainer Frank Leal that many people believed the horse never would come back to run again, and he half-smiled at me and said, "He's always had critics."

On the track I caught Preachinatthebar galloping under Larry Damore, and word had spread around the barn area like fire that

Minister Eric was out of the San Diego Handicap due to an ankle injury. That really illustrates the highs and lows of the game: Trainer Richard Mandella won the Oceanside Stakes with El Roblar and then one of his top handicap horses gets hurt the next morning. It was at Del Mar that Minister Eric broke his maiden two summers ago in a sprint on Pacific Classic Day.

Rock Hard Ten schools in the paddock every morning, like many of the Mandella horses, and then galloped two miles on the track. After him came Three Degrees. Her trainer, Patrick Gallagher, has got to be one of the nicest people I've met in the sport. He is always smiling every morning and calling greetings to everyone he sees.

I was set to work with Horse ID yesterday; they are the people who identify, tatoo, and photograph every horse on the grounds for the Jockey Club. We did a son of Maria's Mon while two recently-born kittens chased a riding whip and a bottle cap around the barn.

In the Identification office, there are registration cards complete with photos for every horse on the grounds and any horse who has run in Southern California in the past year. It is, as you may imagine, a lot of cards!

My next assignment today was to do a photo shoot on Trevor Denman, the famed track announcer that calls the races at Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Fairplex Park. He is very nice, which helped since I was very intimidated by him, and also by the fact that I was standing on the top of the grandstand with nothing to stop me from falling six stories below, or perhaps being blown into the ocean.

It was even hotter on Thursday than opening day, and the schoolers before the first race were sweating on the long walk from the barns. Bear in the Woods and Three Valleys were two that I noticed, schooling for the weekend's stakes races. Later on, St Averil, who runs in the second race on Friday night, and Ticker Tape, who runs over the weekend, also schooled.

When the races started, I was put into the receiving and testing barn area to help with blood samples, etc. The best part was when the two-year-old filly Inverness came in after a win. She is, and I wish there was a better word for it, cute. She has a little head on a big, soft two-year-old body, with massive mule-like ears and a sweet expression. Her win was an impressive one, and I would look for her to makes some noise in the two-year-old stakes division later in the summer.

Flip Flop won the feature race over a very talented field that included House of Fortune and Penny's Fortune.

On Friday, it is the first of Del Mar's Four o'Clock Friday series, where a concert will be held after the races, which start at four. I hope some day to see some Turf Angels readers out there at Del Mar, because the experience should be shared by everyone!