DEL MAR: After bearing bad news, Kelly Leak returns for Del Mar Futurity
By JEFF NAHILL - Staff Writer | ∞
DEL MAR ---- Following the running of the Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 10, there was no way trainer Mike Machowsky was going to run his prized 2-year-old Kelly Leak again at the Del Mar meet.
Of course, Machowsky was a little upset at the time. Kelly Leak had crossed the finish line first in the 6 1/2-furlong race on the Polytrack, only to be disqualified for interference in the stretch.
Machowsky had other reasons to keep the son of Runaway Groom in the barn until the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita Park. But when entries were taken for Wednesday's closing-day, featured Grade I Del Mar Futurity at 7 furlongs, there was Kelly Leak in the No. 5 post and the third choice on the morning line at odds of 5-1.
"Coming into the Del Mar meet, I was concerned about the 3 1/2 weeks (between the Best Pal and Futurity)," Machowsky said Monday. "You have all the other races bunching up together (Futurity, Norfolk Stakes at Oak Tree and Breeders' Cup Juvenile). I didn't want that many races all together.
"He came out of the Best Pal pretty good. He's been eating well. I expected him to be tired after it, but he hasn't shown me any of that stuff."
Machowksy has worked the colt ---- named for the renegade character from the movie "The Bad News Bears" ---- twice since the Best Pal and has been happy with the results.
But he still isn't thrilled about the result of the Best Pal, whereby he was moved from first place all the way down to fourth.
"I was upset," he said. "You never want to get disqualified from a race like that. I could see both sides of it. I didn't think he should be placed any (lower) than second (place). I'm not a steward. I just have to deal with it."
The disqualification cost Machowsky a winner's share and also valuable points to get into the Breeders' Cup. That could be another reason for the change of heart in running Wednesday.
Despite the Best Pal antics, Machowsky doesn't foresee a change in tactics by jockey Victor Espinoza when he gets aboard Kelly Leak.
"He's got a real good turn of foot," the trainer said. "You just have to let him get a good comfortable spot; hopefully we won't have to go as wide this time as we did last time."
Espinoza went wide and came in on Azul Leon, who was promoted to first place by the disqualification. Trainer Doug O'Neill is sticking to his plan of skipping the Futurity with Azul Leon and getting ready for the Norfolk. But O'Neill will have impressive maiden winner Escalon in Wednesday's race.
As for the rest of the field, Canadian invader Southern Exchange has been installed as the 7-2 morning-line second choice off three straight wins on the Polytrack at Woodbine Race Course in Toronto. Money rider Garrett Gomez has taken the mount.
Adding to the depth is Coronet of a Baron (6-1), who was moved up from third to second in the Best Pal; the Bob Baffert-trained maiden winner Midshipman, who has surprisingly been installed as the 3-1 favorite; and Believe in Hope (9-2), an impressive son of Thunder Gulch who won his first time at Del Mar for trainer Ron Ellis.
Machowsky put on his handicapping hat.
"The horse coming from Woodbine has good form," he said, "but you don't know what he has run against up there. We have a lot of quick horses out here, so if he goes up front, he'll be tested if he tries.
"The Ron Ellis horse is interesting. He's going to get a good trip from out there. Ron is such a good trainer. He's put four good works into him since the race so he must be doing well."
At the end of Wednesday, however, Machowsky hopes he's doing the best of them all.
Is the grass greener?
With the end of this year's 43-day meet Wednesday, all eyes turn toward the future at Del Mar.
One thing Del Mar won't have next year, or likely for a few years, is a new widened turf course. Track president Joe Harper originally hoped to begin the project this offseason, but setbacks and a new plan by the Del Mar fair board have changed the situation.
The board has moved the addition of a roof on the horse arena next to Surfside Race Place to the top of the list ---- although why a roof in Southern California is needed still boggles the mind of some ---- so the race track will wait.
The widening of the turf course is key to any hopes Del Mar has of hosting a Breeders' Cup ---- an event it wants to stage in the worst way. Â
"I don't think we have to be worried about being pushed back," Harper said Sunday. "Obviously, we're looking at a Breeders' Cup down the road, and I guarantee you when that date becomes a reasonable assumption and the Breeders' Cup is going to choose a West Coast track, that year we will have a widened turf course ready to go at that time.
"Our relationship with the fair board is very good. We go back and forth with their projects and our projects. The bottom line here is getting our turf course ready for a Breeders' Cup when it's ready to come here, and that will be that.
"I'd like to get things rolling, but the reality is we know when we need to put it in."
The Breeders' Cup will be held for the next two years at Santa Anita Park. On Monday, New York Racing Association president Charles Hayward said he thought his group had a deal to host the 2010 event at Belmont Park.
But he had been told that Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., will host the Cup that year, although no one is confirming it. So Belmont would likely be the choice in 2011.
"Are we looking at 2012?" Harper said. "We got plenty of time."
Let's make a deal
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's lease ends on Dec. 31, 2009, and Harper's crew is already working on renewing it.
Harper said the state will send out a guideline on what it wants in an operator early in 2009, and then will ask for formal bids from any qualified groups.
Before the recent downturn in the economy and subsequently on racetracks' bottom line ---- betting handle ---- it was widely believed that groups like Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc. might make a play for Del Mar. Although that could still happen, it seems very unlikely now.
"I don't think we're worried one way or the other," Harper said. "We're not optimistic or pessimistic on who might come out and bid. We'll work on our bid and we'll have a great story to tell. We'll have a very good, in my opinion, winning proposal.
"The only thing I'm optimistic on is that we will have a great opportunity to talk about ourselves and what we have done and what we can do in the future."
Contact staff writer Jeff Nahill at (760) 740-3550 or nctnahill@aol.com.
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