(Hit Show / Photos by Holly M. Smith)

From the Del Mar Turf Club Media Team / Jim Charvat:

HIT SHOW JOINS LIST OF POSSIBLES FOR PACIFIC CLASSIC

You can add another big hitter to the list of possibles for this year’s Pacific Classic. Trainer Brad Cox is looking for a spot to run his Dubai World Cup winner Hit Show and has shown an interest in Del Mar’s marquee race on August 22.

Hit Show is the 6-year-old son of Candy Ride out of the Tapit mare, Actress. Due in large part to his victory in Dubai in 2025, he has earnings of $9,541,683, ranked 21st on the all-time earnings list. A win in the Classic would vault him past such notables as Cigar, Skip Away and Flintshire.

Hit Show broke his maiden at first asking at Keeneland in 2022. He won his first stakes race a few months later in the 2023 G3 Withers at Aqueduct and followed with a runner-up finish to Lord Miles in the G2 Wood Memorial. They took a shot with him in the Kentucky Derby where he finished fifth behind Mage. He would go on to finish fourth in the Belmont Stakes five weeks later.

Hit Show wouldn’t visit the winner’s circle until over a year later when he won the Governor’s Cup at Mountaineer on the West Virginia Derby undercard. It was the start of a three-race win streak that included the G2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs and the G2 Fayette at Keeneland.

In 2025 he started his 5-year-old campaign with a win in the G3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds, then came out west and ran in the G1 Santa Anita Handicap, finishing third. That was his prep for his upset win in Dubai. The big gray sat midpack throughout most of the race before surging through traffic down the lane and running down a very game Mixto, the winner of the Pacific Classic the year before. He also beat a young Forever Young who finished third.

Hit Show has won a couple of Grade 3’s since. He went back to Dubai this year to defend his title and finished fifth and most recently ran second to Phileas Fogg in the G2 Suburban at Saratoga. He’s owned by Gary and Mary West Stables and has been in the Brad Cox barn from day one.

Nominations for the 36th running of the G1, $1 million Pacific Classic close today. Entries will be drawn Sunday.

DEL MAR LOOKS TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING INTO SECOND HALF

We have reached the halfway point of the summer meet at Del Mar. The first half was full of exciting racing, thrilling finishes and champions being champions. We got to see Journalism run for the final time and Gold Phoenix score a record setting sixth stakes win at Del Mar.

In a time when horse populations are declining and field sizes are shrinking, Del Mar continues to boast healthy numbers in both categories which bodes well for a strong second half of the season.

“Generally, overall, I’m pleased with the results,” says racing secretary David Jerkens. “We knew what we were up against coming into the meet. We track significant tracks; Oaklawn, Churchill, Aqueduct and Keeneland and all showed field size decline. But I’m pleasantly surprised. The fact we’re slightly up on field size over a year ago is a testament to the staff I have here and the support we get every year at Del Mar.”

The average field size of 8.56 is tick above last year’s number and still among the leaders nationwide.  But that’s not the only thing that surprised Jerkens in the first half of the summer meet.

“The amount of interested out-of-state shippers have for our stakes,” Jerkens notes. “The Yellow Ribbon comprised of almost all shippers. There were individual trainers like John Haran and David Van Winkle in the Bing Crosby, which you don’t expect. There are certain trainers who look at our races every year, but I feel like we’ve attracted some newer barns that have never started a horse at Del Mar.

“It’s a big boost when you get an additional stakes horse that you don’t expect, that’s not in your inventory,” Jerkens continues. “It makes a six-horse field into a seven or an eight and an eight into a 10. My phone is ringing a lot about our stakes races. Obviously, we convey our program to trainers nationwide and, so far, we’re seeing an uptick in stakes participation.”

Trainer Graham Motion, who is based at Fair Hill in Maryland, is a regular ‘invader’ at Del Mar. He won the Yellow Ribbon last Saturday. Saffie Joseph, Jr., a top east coast trainer primarily out of Florida, shipped in and won the G1 Clement L. Hirsch the weekend before. Just two examples of out-of-town barns participating in Del Mar stakes action this summer.

The number of Cal-breds races have filled a lot better than Jerkens expected going into the meet and all of the levels of racing, the allowance, maiden and claiming races, are comparable to last year.

“Overall (horse) population in the state is down six percent,” Jerkens contends. “Our population is off a small amount, maybe 1%. There were a few days last year when we went over 1,900 horses. We haven’t reached that this year but at the end of the day the Del Mar population is just about flat. There’s no big discrepancy. Everything is aligning very similarly to last year.”

Which is a ‘win’ for a racing secretary.

“I’ll take it,” Jerkens says. “The fact that we’re even on field size when the trend is going the other direction. And you can absorb a small population decrease. If you get into the double-digit percentages then it’s time to worry.”

The horse population at Del Mar is in the high 1,800’s, which is a sign the average field sizes will remain healthy through the rest of the meet.

“There’s pent up demand,” Jerkens states. “A lot of people have been asking about (condition) book three, our final book of the meet. Typically, the goal is to get two starts at Del Mar and provided the 2-year-old races start to fill a little better I think we’re in for a strong closing.”

HERNANDEZ SWEEPS WEEKEND STAKES TO HOLD LEAD IN STANDINGS

During every meet at Del Mar over the past five years, jockey Juan Hernandez has put together one big weekend that more times than not leads to another title for the 34-year-old rider. Last weekend he may have done it again.

Hernandez, who currently leads the jockey standings by four wins over Joel Rosario, went out and swept the stakes races. On Friday he won the Graduation Stakes on Net Par. Saturday he took both ends of the stakes doubleheader, winning the G3 Best Pal with Hughes and the G2 Yellow Ribbon with Warming. Then Sunday Hernandez went out and won the G3 Sorrento on Holmby. Add those four to his win on August 2 on Free Closer in the C.T.B.A Stakes and that’s five stakes in a row heading into the new week.

Hernandez has six total stakes wins at the meet and is on pace to reach 12. The record at Del Mar is 15 by Flavien Prat in 2020.

Hernandez racked up seven wins last week, including three on Saturday. He has 20 victories to 16 for Rosario, who lost a little ground on the defending champ but is still within striking distance. As are Antonio Fresu with 14 wins and Kazushi Kimura with 11. Emisael Jaramillo, Armando Ayuso and Umberto Rispoli are all knotted at 10; Hector I. Berrios has eight and Joe Bravo and Tyler Baze round out the Top Ten in the jockey standings with five.

Doug O’Neill continues to tower over the others in the trainer’s standings with 14 wins. His closest competitor is Philip D’Amato with nine victories. Bob Baffert won four races last week, all with Hernandez in the saddle. Two of those wins were in stakes, the Best Pal and the Sorrento. He climbs into a three-way tie with John Sadler and George Papaprodromou with seven tallies.

Rounding out the Top Ten in the trainers’ standings were Mark Glatt with six and Brian Koriner, Jeff Mullins, Michael McCarthy and Antonio Garcia with five a piece. Garcia also won a stakes race last week with Net Par, who has now won twice at the Del Mar summer meet.

Fifty nine different trainers have won at least one race at Del Mar. Sean Williams leads all out-of-town trainers with two wins. Jose D’Angelo, Graham Motion and Saffie Joseph, Jr. have each shipped in a horse and picked up a victory.

The owner standings also has a clear leader. Reddam Racing and J. Paul Reddam lead the pack with seven wins and $505,420 in earnings. Reddam’s been riding the success of his home-bred Pavel, who has sired eight winners at the meet, six for Reddam.

Seventy-five horses have been claimed at the meet totaling $1,773,500. That’s up 17% from last year at this time when 64 horses were claimed totaling $1,599,000.

Twenty-eight 2-year-old races have been run with average field size of 7.86 horses per race. Seventeen stakes races are in the books with an AFS of 7.71.

Finally, the percentage of winning favorites made a big recovery last week. Heading into week four 23 out of 107 favorites had crossed the finish line first or 21.50%. By Sunday evening, the favorites had won nearly half of the week’s races (17 of 35) and raised the percentage up to 28.17%, still less than the national average (33-to-35%) but much closer than the 17% from just two weeks ago.

COOLING OUT:  Thought Process, winner of last year’s G2 San Clemente at Del Mar and this year’s G1 Gamely at Santa Anita is being pointed to the G2 John Mabee on closing day, September 7. “She’s doing exceptional,” trainer Philip D’Amato said Thursday…Jockey Juan Hernandez is heading back across the pond next week. Del Mar’s leading rider will rejoin trainer Wesley Ward and his colt Bacio in England to run in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York on August 21. It’s a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland October 31. Hernandez rode Bacio to victory in the Palace of Holyroodhouse at Royal Ascot in June…A couple of belated birthday wishes. Jockey Mike Smith turned 60 years old Monday and trainer Peter Eurton celebrated another trip around the sun, his 69th, on Wednesday…Notable works on Thursday: Dirt – Listenupshance (4f, :48.60); Super Corredora (4f, :48.00), and Subsanador (5f, :58.80). Turf – El Potente (5f, 1:01.00). A total of 123 horses put in official workouts at Del Mar on Thursday; 106 on the main track, 17 on the grass.