El Corredor Gives Espinoza a Stakes Sweep at Del Mar

DEL MAR â€”  Well on the way to his second consecutive riding title after leading the meet at Hollywood Park, jockey Victor Espinoza is also now tops in stakes wins at Del Mar.

Espinoza upped his total to seven Sunday by sweeping the $136,200 Solana Beach Handicap with Lazy Slusan and the $245,600 Del Mar Breeders’ Cup Handicap with 5-2 favorite El Corredor.

Owned by Hal Earnhardt and trained by Bob Baffert, who has eight stakes wins at the meet, El Corredor made a successful two-turn debut, easily defeating Cliquot and six others for his fourth win in five starts.

Content to track the pace in fourth down the backside, the 5-2 second choice moved inside pacesetter Cliquot to get the lead with a little less than a half-mile to run, then kicked away and was taken in hand late by Espinoza. The margin at the finish was 2 1/2 lengths, and he completed the mile in 1:36.

El Corredor, a son of Mr. Greeley purchased for $110,000 as a yearling, was fourth in his career debut here on Sept. 5, 1999, then won three sprints by a combined 8 1/2 lengths before Sunday.

“Stretching him out was a test for him today,� said Baffert. “Now that we know he can get a mile, we can do a lot of things with him.

“This colt has been impressive from the beginning. He had some little things go wrong physically, and I was so high on him, I would just stop on him. Hal has been very patient about this colt.�

Prime Timber, the 5-2 second choice, never threatened, finishing sixth under Chris McCarron. A distant second to eventual Pacific Classic winner Skimming in last month’s San Diego Handicap, Prime Timber has lost six in a row and dropped 10 of 12 since the start of 1999.

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Blueprint, sixth in his U.S. debut in the Hollywood Gold Cup, is the 5-2 favorite against eight others in the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap today.

Trained by Bob Hess, Jr., Blueprint will appreciate the return to the turf. Bred in Ireland and raced in England and France before coming to America, the 5-year-old son of Generous has won five of 15 on the grass and earned nearly $235,000. He won a Group II race at Newmarket in May. Kent Desormeaux will ride for the first time.

The Red Baron’s Barn-owned entry of Deploy Venture and Chelsea Barracks is the 3-1 second choice in the 1 3/8-mile race, but only Chelsea Barracks, a gate-to-wire winner here on July 27, may start.

A winner of the Arlington Handicap on July 29 in Illinois, Northern Quest is the 7-2 third choice, making his California bow for trainer Bobby Frankel, who owns two previous wins in the Del Mar Handicap. Chris McCarron will ride the son of Rainbow Quest.

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The Del Mar Handicap is the last leg of a national Pick Three wager today, part of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s America’s Day at the Races promotion.

The bet, which has a $1 minimum, begins with the $500,000 Diana Handicap, the closing day feature at Saratoga in which Perfect Sting will be a prohibitive favorite, and continues with the $150,000 Arlington Matron, in which Bella Chiarra heads the field.

Notes

Chester House, who won for the first time in the United States when he captured the Arlington Million on Aug. 19, has been retired, according to Frankel. He is supposed to begin stud duty at Juddmonte Farms next year.

Local trainer Paul Jones’ first starter in the $2,165,412 All American Futurity today at Ruidoso Downs is 2-1 morning line favorite Copper Buff. Jones is the leading trainer at Los Alamitos. . . . Lazy Slusan rallied late to beat favored Smooth Player by two lengths in the Solana Beach. She was one of three winners on the card for trainer John Dolan. . . . Trainer Ron McAnally ended an 0-for-50 streak at Del Mar when Jimmy Z won the eighth race.