Racing! The clock is counting down to the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar

Hello, my name is John Cherwa, welcome back to our horse racing newsletter, and here’s to a World Series we will never forget.

One of the great things about covering horse racing is all the great characters you get to meet. One I would like to introduce you to is Mick Ruis, owner and trainer of Bolt d’Oro, the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. We ran a story on him in our print and online editions. Give it a read here.

Mick was one of about 15 trainers and jockeys made available to the media on Wednesday at Del Mar. He was there with a smile, wearing his traditional Levi’s with a Ruis Racing cap on. It started out with just me and him talking — he knew me because we had dinner together during the Santa Anita meet so I could write the longer profile I so shamelessly plugged above. But as media members walked up, they suddenly realized how engaging he was. He’s new to this media game but he was obviously excited to give it a try.

His wife Wendy stood off to the side taking some pictures of Mick being interviewed. It’s great to see such enthusiasm.

View from the experts

Remember, if you watch one video today about horse racing, it should be our series of previews for the Breeders’ Cup, starring Jeff Siegel and Aaron Vercruysse of xbtv. Today’s is a look at the first five races on Saturday’s program. (watch here). If you missed the handicapping for Friday, there’s this (watch here). And if you want to catch up on some others, here’s one on horses that are under the radar (watch here). There’s also one on European horses (watch here), or discussing the pre-entries to the Classic and Turf (watch here), and the popular Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies (watch here) races.

Racing at Del Mar

Wednesday’s opening-day card was highlighted by the $79,340 (Hey, I can kick in $10 to make it a nice, round number.) Let It Ride Stakes over a mile for 3-year-olds on the turf course. Master Merion, the even-money favorite, won by a length in a strong stalking trip. Harbour Master was second, and Kitten’s Cat was third. It was Merion’s fourth win in nine starts to go along with four places and one show.

Thursday’s feature is the $75,000-and-change Lure Stakes for older horses going a mile on the grass. It’s the seventh race on an eight-race card at about 3:30 p.m. Post time is 12:30 p.m., followed by 11:25 a.m. on Friday and 10:10 a.m. on Saturday. And remember, outside of today, if you don’t have a ticket, don’t show up. It’s a sellout.

Noise at Del Mar

This is what you’ve been waiting for: Who’s going to be singing “When the Surf Meets the Turf”? Here’s how Bing Crosby did it. It’s pretty short (play here). On Friday, it will be performed by Richie Sambora, the former Bon Jovi guitar genius and former husband of Heather Locklear. His standard guitar riff is longer than this song, so we’ll see how that goes.

On Saturday, it will be Jewel performing the song. Jewel, you’ll remember, did a reverse Taylor Swift by going from pop to country. My favorite song of hers is “You Were Meant for Me,” (listen here) because of the lyric “picked up the paper.” Historians have checked to see if the line was meant to be “opened up the newsletter” but was scrapped because the email newsletter hadn’t been invented yet.

There will also be one of those jet flyovers. Yeah, we hear horses really like that supersonic noise.

Classic Notes

Now, thanks to help from the wonderful notes team at the Breeders’ Cup, here are some bits and pieces of information.

Here’s the post positions for Saturday’s big race:

Horse, trainer, jockey, odds

1. Arrogate, Bob Baffert, Mike Smith, 2-1

2. War Decree, Aidan O'Brien, Seamie Heffernan, 30-1

3. Win the Space, George Papaprodromou, Joe Talamo, 30-1

4. War Story, Jorge Navarro, Jose Ortiz, 30-1

5. Gun Runner, Steve Asmussen, Florent Geroux, 9-5

6. Mubtaahij (IRE), Bob Baffert, Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1

7. Churchill (IRE), Aidan O'Brien, Ryan Moore, 15-1

8. West Coast, Bob Baffert, Javier Castellano, 6-1

9. Gunnevera, Antonio Sano, Edgard Zayas, 30-1

10. Pavel, Doug O'Neill, Mario Gutierrez, 20-1

11. Collected, Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia, 6-1

--Bob Baffert’s quartet all hit the Del Mar surface for the first time since being vanned up from Santa Anita. Arrogate and Mubtaahij jogged, while Collected and West Coast galloped. “Everything’s fine,” Baffert said. “It’s all good. No surprises, Everything is smooth. They shipped well. They got here and they all looked happy on the track.”

--Churchill and War Decree should have gotten out of quarantine Wednesday night and were scheduled to hit the track today.

--Gunnevera galloped 1 1/2 miles, with the last 3/8th in a full gallop. “My horse is better now than at Saratoga [when he finished second to West Coast in the Travers],” trainer Antonio Sano said. “He has gained weight and is in the best condition.”

--Favorite Gun Runner took an easy gallop on Wednesday. “He’s very confident. He’s a popcorn right now and he’s ready to run,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He’ll school at the gate tomorrow and gallop and then gallop again on Friday.” Here’s more from Asmussen, courtesy of Jennie Rees of JR Communications. (watch here)

--Pavel took a 1 1/2-mile gallop during training. “He’s doing super-great and we’re hoping he’ll come up with another great effort on Saturday,” trainer Doug O’Neill said.

--War Story jogged a mile and galloped a mile when he hit the track. “He can be a little crabby, but today he went excellent out there.,” trainer Jorge Navarro said. “He’s getting right at exactly the right time.”

--Win The Space jogged over the track. “He wakes up when he gets to the track,” said trainer George Papaprodromou. “He’s pretty aggressive.”

Distaff notes

Here’s the post positions for Friday’s big race:

Horse, trainer, jockey, odds

1. Champagne Room, Peter Eurton, Mario Gutierrez, 15-1

2. Stellar Wind, John Sadler, Victor Espinoza, 5-2

3. Mopotism, Doug O'Neill, Frankie Dettori, 30-1

4. Abel Tasman, Bob Baffert, Mike Smith, 4-1

5. Elate, Bill Mott, Jose Ortiz, 3-1

6. Forever Unbridled, Dallas Stewart, John Velazquez, 4-1

7. Paradise Woods, Richard Mandella, Flavien Prat, 9-2

8. Romantic Vision, Rusty Arnold, Brian Hernandez Jr., 15-1

--Abel Tasman galloped 1 1/4 and everything went fine according to Baffert.

--Champagne Room galloped a mile and then had a schooling session in the afternoon.

--Elate had an easy mile gallop on Wednesday. “She just had an easy morning,” said assistant trainer Riley Mott. “She went through the paddock and galloped and came back. She’s happy.”

--Forever Unbridled galloped 1 1/4 miles under a strong hold. “I’m very happy with her,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “She’s in great shape and couldn’t be doing any better. She appears to be a little stronger and bigger, and I feel like she’s very healthy.”

--Romantic Vision is making her final start on Friday before heading to motherhood. “I’m just hoping she makes a good showing,” trainer Rusty Arnold said. “A placing would be great, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

--Stellar Wind, the favorite in her last race, did her normal routine of a 1 1/2-mile gallop. “It was a strong gallop that looked very good,” trainer John Sadler said.

Juvenile notes

Here are the post positions for Saturday’s race that wil establish the early favorite to win the Kentucky Derby:

Horse, trainer, jockey, odds

1. U S Navy Flag, Aidan O'Brien, Ryan Moore, 8-1

2. Solomini, Bob Baffert, Flavien Prat, 6-1

3. Firenze Fire, Jason Servis, Irad Ortiz Jr., 6-1

4. Givemeaminit, Dallas Stewart, Javier Castellano, 20-1

5. Free Drop Billy, Dale Romans, Robby Albarado, 5-1

6. Good Magic, Chad Brown, Jose Ortiz, 8-1

7. The Tabulator, Larry Rivelli, Jose Valdivia Jr., 20-1

8. Bahamian, Simon Callaghan, Mario Gutierrez, 30-1

9. Hazit, Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez, 20-1

10. Golden Dragon, Mikhail Yanakov, Evin Roman, 30-1

11. Bolt d'Oro, Mick Ruis, Corey Nakatani, 9-5

12. Hollywood Star, Dale Romans, Joel Rosario, 15-1

--Bolt d’Oro galloped 1 1/2 miles with exercise rider Carlos Aguilar. “He’s stretching out good and he’s happy,” Ruis said. “That’s all we want going into the race, having him super-happy and showing he’s right where we need him to be.”

--Firenze Fire rested up after the long trip from the East Coast. “He ate good and that’s always good,” said trainer Jason Service.

--Free Drop Billy galloped 1 1/2 miles on Wednesday. Trainer Dale Romans shipped Billy and stablemate Hollywood Star from Churchill Downs to Santa Anita to train before shipping to Del Mar. Hmmm, isn’t that what Santa Anita boss Tim Ritvo is on the lookout for, trainers who work their horses at the track but don’t run them there? Or with a trainer of Roman’s stature, is this more of a courtesy?

--A win by Good Magic would be her first, running in the most important 2-year-old race of the year. “We’ve always thought a lot of this horse,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Although he’s a maiden. I think he’s run two really good races. … If he finds himself in a good spot early, I think he’ll be right there.”

Jeff Nahill’s DM spot play

SECOND RACE: No. 3 Swiss Minister (8-1)

Trainer Genaro Vallejo has started just 11 horses this year but he has won six times, and a lot of those wins have come in the claiming ranks. He moves this 4-year-old up off a win at Santa Anita. The gelding basically went wire-to-wire, and Vallejo will ask him to go a half-furlong longer here. Jockey Bayran Pena keeps the mount; he is 3-for-7 with Vallejo.

Wednesday’s result: Channel Crossing took the lead out of the gate in the ninth race and held it for 6 furlongs. The only problem is the race was a mile on the grass and Channel Crossing finished way back. I also thought Kazan couldn't overcome that outside post in the same race and finished fifth.

Jeff Nahill is a quality editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He can be reached at jeff.nahill@sduniontribune.com. For other selections go to his blog: fromthewinnerscircle.me

Final thought

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Any thoughts, drop me an email at john.cherwa@latimes.com or feed my ego by following me on Twitter @jcherwa.

Now, the star of the show, Wednesday’s results and Thursday’s entries.