San Diego Handicap – Grade II
1 1/16 Mile Dirt Graded Stake Purse $300.00 Three-Year-Olds-And-Upward. At DMR
San Diego Handicap has been with us since the beginning… 2003 won by the future HOF stallion… one of our base stallions owned by the venerable future HOF trainer Jerry Garcia Racing out of his vast KY farm. 2004 won by another future HOF stallion…another base stallion, nice to have on a pedigree, trained by Wattos who was barely here a few years but made quite a splash. 2005 I wanted to go year to this one… won by Talk Talk, earner of over $1,700.00, owned by Paradise Stable and trained by their hard-drinking, skirt-chasing trainer Silky White. 2006 won by BomBayDancer, the breeder of which attended the First Annual HRP Get Together at Santa Anita (of which there never was a Second Annual HRP Get Together) who kept disappearing and returning with a strange smell. BomBayDancer was trained by Angelos Stable who is still here and approaching $150,000.00 in earnings. I’ll stop with the year by year now as TwinTowersRacing wins 2007, 2018, 2022 and 2023 and is back again looking for number five. While Tommy is preparing for his 9 11 festivities here is also sneaking toward $200,000.00 and should make it before the year is out because his pace is so far ahead of usual. There are so many familiar names that won this race that I just want to mention a few more and then we will talk races. Dynark Stables ruled this place for years, but I don’t think the way the wind was a’blowin’ and hitched his wagon east. Riggins Racing came taking everyone’s money and winning in 2014, left, came back and now is taking everyone’s money again. D J C Racing Stables… Gentleman Dom. Did y’all know Dom is quietly pushing a quarter of a million in earnings here? That’s right, Mauro, that’s $250,000.00… no third zero. Everybody remember Meat? The King of lowbrow humor. Did you know he was only here less than six years? Maxmillion Farm… Max has been here since 2007 and hasn’t slowed a bit. I can say for those of us who have been here since the “0” days: Age becomes us. Alydar Stables… 2004 to 2026! And, like myself, I think, enjoying his hobby. Night Rider Stables… Raj! We get to watch our friend on television. We get to watch him win races here. We get to realize he just beat our horse. hrump! Threshold… Stu, the great writer, the tireless writer, constantly trying to entertain. For me, a constant friend. For the game, someone who is constantly trying to improve the sim. Mb Stables has won this race three times, It’s unusual that that is not enough to make him King of the race, but this one’s a little different. Sanny Village… we lost a great friend. He didn’t overwhelm the game. He was just a great integral part of the game. Now, as The Wheel goes around, there’s the little bump every revolution and life is just a little less. Here’s the field:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Obi Wan Mb Stables *4-5 102
Big Bang Boom Rock Creek 3-1 96
Maymun Mo Mentum Farm 4-1 99
Mr Nobody TwinTowesRacing 10-1 90
Red Font John Henry 5-1 99
Smokin Brave Simmer Down Stable 15-1 94
Forever Martian High Voltage 20-1 91
Obi Wan fairly looms over this field. While a couple of horses in this field have never even been in a stakes race of any kind, Obi Wan breakfasts in the Club House while they are loading the gate for graded stakes races he is in. He won his first Grade I in his third lifetime start, The Champagne at AQU and was second in the BC Juvenile in his fourth start. He went on to win the Grade I BG Stakes at KEE before missing the BEL by only a length, but he bounced back from that fifth to win the Grade II Dandy at SAR. Three races later he scored his second BC second, this time in the BC Dirt Mile. It’s been five races since then, and he’s been in the money in every race most recently third in the Grade I Metropolitan Handicap at SAR. Ironically, with a record like this, he has been favourite in only three of his eighteen starts… and he lost them all; so take care, Bridgejumpers.
2 Maymun Mo Mentum Farm 99
Maymun was acquired by claim from Big Jd Racing for $40.00 and hasn’t yet lost for his new connections. He was promptly entered into a big buck allowance race at WO which he won as his second straight win. He then won his third straight, The $200.00 Commentator at SAR. Maymun is one of those horses that changed hands too cheap when he was young and that fact kept him down and changing stables often. In his juvenile year he won the Grade III Best Pal Stakes, but then, to Dom’s chagrin, he stopped winning, so his trainer decided to auction him and to no one’s benefit, he only $21.01 from Temulac Farm. After his second race for Temulac Farm, his new owner must have thought, ”Well, I only paid $21.01; I can risk $20.00″ and lost him for $20.00 to Luz International. Soooo, Luz International must have thought, ”Well, I only paid $22.00; I can risk $16.00″ and lost him for $16.00 to Panionios Racing. Now Panionios Racing got his race owning Maymun which was getting pretty sick of this nickel and dime stuff. Meanwhile, Panionios Racing must have thought, ”Well, I only paid $16.00; I can risk $12.50″ and the horse and the public had figured that out and he won by six lengths as the odds-on favourite and was claimed by Big Jd Racing who after a couple of in the money runs in safe races must have thought ”Well, I only paid $12.50; I can risk $40.00″ and lost him for $40.00 to Mo Mentum Farm, and we are back to the beginning of this commentary. Whew!
3 Big Bang Boom Rock Creek 96
Big Bang Boom most recently placed second in The Grade III Salvator Mile at MTH, and prior to that he was third in the $100.00 FON Stakes. It wasn’t until September of his Sophomore year that he won his first graded stakes in the Grade III Greenwood Cup at PRX with the help of high-priced jockey Rodriguez Jam be he man, woman or sandwich spread made by Smucker’s. (Now, before y’all get wound up, I know it’s Jaime; I just don’t know how to spell Jaime.) Things have slowed down a bit but as you can see, his recent form is going well, and he is getting a lot of respect at the betting kiosk.
4 Red Font John Henry 99
Red Font showed a lot of promise in his run for the roses last year, getting his ticket in early with a victory in The Grade II LA Futurity and underlining it with a second in The Grade I FL Derby. He ran back in the KYD but returned to try the Prk and ran an amazing deep closing third. After that, his breeder sold him for $250.00 to John Henry. Red Font was tough enough to try the BC Dirt Mile last year. That didn’t go well, and times have been tough since his win in the Grade III BC Derby at HST last September.
5 Mr Nobody TwinTowersRacing 90
Mr Nobody… 25 starts and never entered a stakes race. So, who would do such a thing? Why, TwinTowersRacing, of course. The trainer who dose stuff like this all the time… and is successful at it. Sure, he will be a longshot, but don’t sell him short. Look at that string of SRF 90’s; as competitive as any here. More impressively, check out those works; the 1:36 1/5 is faster than Obi Wan‘s latest.
6 Smokin Brave Simmer Down Stable 94
Smokin Brave has had as many owners as races. After winning at first asking at MNR, his breeder decided to be patient with him and waited nearly a year for the auction to roll around and, for whatever reason, this then undefeated gelding sold for $1.00 to Lanfranco Stables, notorious for placing $1.00 and seeing what he can scrape up. Smokin Brave then ran second, his only loss, in a PRX claimer and sold to T Boy Racing for $12.50, who then won a LS claimer but lost him to his current owner for $25.00. Most important part od all this is not so much that he wins but the way he wins and the fact that his SRF numbers keep going up, plus his works are hot. I love a horse on a string.
7 Forever Martian High Voltage 91
Forever Martian has earnings of over $750.00 but is on a downward spiral and was just claimed from Mo Mentum Farm for a scant $9.50 from a WO claimer, but with that 1:36 1/5 work, the new trainer figures it’s worth looking for that old glory. Speaking of Old Glory, in his fourth lifetime start he came second in The Grade III With Anticipation and later placed third in the BC Juvenile Turf . A couple of races later, he displayed his versatility with a second beaten only a neck in the Grade II Risen Star Stakes on dirt at FG. He kept his for into November when he placed in five pricey State Bred stakes, including The $1,000.00 Kings Plate at WO. Then things seemed to go wrong, he started losing, his SRF numbers started dropping and Mo gave up and dropped very low, and we saw what happened at the beginning of this narrative.
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES
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