It’s tough to believe another Del Mar season has come and gone, but there’s only one card left. Rafael Bejarano has clinched his third consecutive riding title and first at Del Mar after winning the Santa Anita and Hollywood Park crowns. The race for second is wide open, with Joel Rosario (35), Garrett Gomez (34) and Tyler Baze (33) still all in the running. John Sadler long ago wrapped up his second consecutive training title on the heels of his Hollywood Park spring-summer championship. He goes into today with a 12-win lead, 30-18, over Mike Mitchell.
I voted for Go Between as Horse of the Meeting after the Bill Mott-trainee continued his mastery of synthetic surfaces with a victory in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 24. Think that guy is going to be tough in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Santa Anita’s new Pro-Ride surface? It’s going to be interesting to see how many of the horses that have been running on artificial tracks, i.e. Zenyatta, Street Boss and Go Between, win on Breeders’ Cup weekend. Zenyatta, of course, showed her love for dirt when she beat Ginger Punch in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park in April. And Karen Headley, assistant to her father Bruce, believes Street Boss might even be a better horse on dirt if he ever gets the chance to run over it. She says he was working a hole in the wind before his maiden debut last summer at Del Mar over Santa Anita’s main track before the ill-fated Cushion Track was installed.
