Monday, August 25, 2008

WHATSTHESCRIPT WINS DEL MAR MILE

Tommy Town Thoroughbreds' Irish-bred Whatsthescript, the 2-1 favorite ridden by 2007's champion jockey Garrett Gomez, unleashed a devastating rally in the stretch Sunday to win the Grade II $400,000 Del Mar Mile, a "Win and You're In" qualifying event for the Breeders' Cup Oct. 24-25 at Santa Anita.

Whatsthescript, trained by John Sadler, won by three-quarters of a length over Bold Chieftain, with Global Hunter third and Daytona fourth in a field of nine grass runners.

The winner ran the distance over the infield Jimmy Durante Turf Course in a fast 1:32.40 and returned $6, $3.40 and $2.80. Bold Chieftain returned $6.40 and $4.60, while Global Hunter paid $8 to show.

Jockey Jose Valdivia, Jr., who rode third-place Global Hunter, claimed foul after the race against the first two horses. However, the stewards disallowed the claim after viewing videotape of the stretch run.

Whatsthescript, a four-year-old colt by Royal Applause, was scoring his sixth and most important victory in a dozen starts. First money of $240,000 increased the horse's earnings to $657,734. The winner is not eligible to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile on Saturday, Oct. 25 and thus would have to be supplemented.

GARRETT GOMEZ (Whatsthescript) -- "I was back there cruisin'; feeling good about where I was at. I wanted to wait as long as I could but the horses behind me were making their moves and I had to go. When I first asked him, he took a stride or two to pick it up. But then he got to going and changing his gears and he really went. This horse has a kick, I'll tell you. A real kick."

ALEX SOLIS (Daytona) -- "I was hoping the race would set up like it did. At the half-mile pole, he got himself into the bit. I had to use him a little bit too much away from there. At the sixteenth pole, I thought we were home free. He just got a little tired at the end. That's it."

RUSSELL BAZE (Bold Chieftain) -- "Through the lane my horse was digging in hard and I was getting into him hard, asking him for all he was worth. He gave me everything he had. It just wasn't quite enough to hold off that other horse. He was moving around a little from the whip, but I never thought we bothered that other horse [Global Hunter]."

JOHN SADLER (Whatsthescript) -- "This is really a great horse. He's one of the true horses that I've ever had that I think is a Grade I horse. What made us so happy was that fast pace in front of him. When they went 22 and 46 [seconds for the first and second quarters], I knew we were in good shape."

WILLIAM MOREY JR. (Bold Chieftain) -- "Whew [after waiting for the decision on rider's claim of foul]. I'll be ready for some Rolaids. We got outrun. My horse ran as well as he could and we beat some very nice horses. One horse beat us. This kid [Russell Baze] did everything right and we just got outrun."

FRACTIONS: :22.51 :46.06 1:09.01 1:20.71 1:32.40

The stakes win was the seventh of the meet for Garrett Gomez, but his 24th overall at Del Mar. He won this race last year with Crossing the Line.

The stakes win was the seventh of the meet for John Sadler, but his 29th overall at Del Mar. He won this race last year with Crossing the Line.