2023 Del Mar Debutante Preview & FREE Picks | Dreamfyre Looks To Build Off Of Sorrento Victory

Dr. Miranda previews the 2023 Del Mar Debutante (G1), then gives her top picks & long shots. Trainer O. J. Jauregui’s Dreamfyre looks to build off of her gate-to-wire victory in the Sorrento Stakes (G3), the local prep for this race.

Can the Richard Mandella-trained Tamara or any of the other 12 entries douse Dreamfyre’s flames? Tell us YOUR thoughts in the Comments section!

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The press release:

A threesome of stakes races – led by the 73rd edition of the Grade I FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante – will highlight the final Saturday program of the 2023 Del Mar race meeting with 11 races all told on tap starting at 1:30 p.m.

The Debutante is the championship race for juvenile fillies at the summer stand and has drawn a gateful of 14 runners for its seven-furlong challenge that carries a $300,000 purse.

Also on the roster for the afternoon is the 66th running of the John C. Mabee Stakes for fillies and mares, aged 3 and up, The $250,000 Grade II testing has lured six distaffers who’ll run nine furlongs on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Finally, there’s the 12th version of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf which will have 10 young lassies travel a mile on the lawn for a $100,000 prize.

The Debutante is Race 10; the Mabee is Race 7, and the Juvenile Fillies Turf goes as Race 5.

The deep Debutante field has a sparkling threesome who should draw the majority of the action in the extended dash – Dan Eplin’s Dreamfyre, Repole Stable’s Pushiness and Spendthrift Farm’s Tamara.

All three of those runners are last-out winners, and in the case of Dreamfrye and Pushiness they are last-out stakes winners.

Dreamfyre was impressive in wiring the field in the Grade III Sorrento Stakes here on August 12. The daughter of the Scat Daddy sire Flameaway is now two-for-two after her earlier victory in a minor stakes at Pleasanton in her debut on July 9. She’s trained by O.J. Jauregui and again will be ridden by Hector Berrios.

Pushiness outran six rivals in the CTBA Stakes at Del Mar on August 6. She fires out of the barn of Mike McCarthy and will be handled once more by Umberto Rispoli.

Tamara comes into the stakes off a first-out triumph at Del Mar on August 19, a six and a half-furlong straight maiden affair where she came running late to score smartly. She’s got some serious connections going for her:  She’s a daughter of multiple champion Beholder; she’s trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, and she’ll once again by guided by Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

Here is the full field for the Debutante from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

1. Talla Racing’s Julias Dream (Ricardo Gonzalez, 5-1)
2. KMN Racing’s Next Right Thing (Emily Ellingwood, 30-1)
3. Ruis Racing’s Pretty Layla (Drayden Van Dyke, 30-1)
4. Kaleem Shah’s Benedetta (Victor Espinoza, 10-1)
5. Cicero Farms’ Hope Road (Tiago Pereira, 12-1)
6. Agnew or Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred’s Chatalas (Juan Hernandez, 5-1)
7. Dreamfyre (4-1)
8. Pushiness (8-1)
9. Tamara (7/2)
10. Michael McMillan’s Where’s My Ring (Joe Bravo, 15-1)
11. Gary Folgner’s Motet (Abdul Alsagoor, 50-1)
12. C R K Stable’s Gate to Paradise (Kent Desormeaux, 20-1)
13. Exline-BorderRacing and Burns Racing’s Laurent (Edwin Maldonado, 6-1)
14. Barber or STD Racing Stable’s Cheeky Gal (Antonio Fresu, 30-1)