Del Mar Report #7: The Awards

Horse of the Meet: Shared Belief – Clear choice here as he dominated the Grade 1 Pacific Classic over a tough field.  He continues his undefeated streak and march towards the Breeders Cup!  Can he keep it up?

Older Male of the Meet: Goldencents – His win in the Pat O’Brien Stakes was breath taking!  He set the track record for seven furlongs, and also stamped himself as the heavy favorite to repeat in the Breeders Cup Mile.

Older Female of the Meet: Iotapa – She continues her “workman like” efforts, and just gets better with each race.  She’ll have to step up her game to beat the top horses in this division, but who is to say she can’t do it?  Home track will be to her advantage.

3 Year Old Male of the Meet: Shared Belief – You can’t say enough good things about this horse.  I think everyone has their sights set on a California Chrome vs. Shared Belief showdown.

3 Year Old Female of the Meet: Personal Diary – This was a really tough one because nobody stood out in the division.  Personal Diary won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks so she gets the nod over the others.

2 Year Old Male of the Meet: American Pharoah – He might be the latest Zayat Stables star.  He was heavily hyped in his debut but things didn’t go well in that one causing some concern.  Baffert showed confidence and entered the well beaten maiden in the Del Mar Futurity and he really showed his class as he blew out the competition and earned the highest beyer speed figure for a two year old.

2 Year Old Female of the Meet: Sunset Glow – She won both the graded stakes within her division so this was an easy pick.  How will she fair outside of Del Mar is the only question mark now.

Sprinter of the Meet: Goldencents – Sometimes it’s hard to label him a sprinter, but the big seven furlong win definitely counts that way for this meet.  Probably better at a mile, but he’s just a high quality horse no matter what they ask him to do.

Owner of the Meet: Hronis Racing LLC – Finished with 8 wins in 41 tries and was clear of the next ownership group by two races.  Capped off the meet with Daddy D T winning the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes.

Trainer of the Meet: Jerry Hollendorfer – Finished in a tie for first in the trainer standings with Peter Miller, but was ahead of him in win percentage and earnings.  Hollendorfer continues to win meet after meet in California.

Jockey of the Meet: Rafael Bejarano – What an amazing way to come back from injury!  Bejarano dominated the jockey standings and served noticed that he is the top jock in town.

Race of the Meet: Pacific Classic – Maybe it wasn’t the closest race in the world…but man was it excited to see Shared Belief make his move!  As far as impact on the rest of the season and Breeders Cup this race beats all others.