Smokin' Ten, Chiloquin, Oughttobenaughty close out Del Mar

Former San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center horses Chiloquin and Oughttobenaughty and future San Luis Rey Downs horse Smokin’ Ten ran on the final day of the 2013 Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meet.

Chiloquin, who is trained by Scott Hansen and owned by Hansen and Carl Asadurian, finished third in the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes, which was the fifth raceSeptember 4. Smokin’ Ten, owned by Herrick Racing, LLC, and trained by Joe Herrick, was fifth in the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes, which was the closing day’s third race. The ten-race meet finale ended with a non-stakes race for fillies and mares three years old and upward; the Hansen-trained Oughttobenaughty owned by Scott and Laura Hansen placed seventh among the ten horses.

Smokin’ Ten is a two-year-old colt. His sire was Rock Hard Ten, who was once at Bonsall’s Moody Creek Farms. The Kentucky-foaled Smokin’ Ten made his racing debut August 22 at Del Mar in a maiden claiming race and won the six-furlong turf race by 3 1/4 lengths. The colt was trained by Tim Yakteen at the time.

The claiming status allowed horses to be claimed for the proper price prior to that race. Herrick Racing, LLC, which includes Herrick’s parents, claimed Smokin’ Ten from Ernest Moody’s Mercedes Stables for $50,000.

The decision to run Smokin’ Ten only 13 days later was based on his expected break afterwards. “We knew we weren’t going to be running at Pomona,” Herrick said.

(The three-week Fairplex meet at Pomona is Southern California’s only fair meet. Racing resumed at Santa Anita Park on September 27.)

The Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes was a one-mile race for two-year-olds. Smokin’ Ten was one of three horses in the stakes race who had won in his only previous start; one of the other two was eventual race winner Diamond Bachelor. Smokin’ Ten broke fourth among the eight horses out of the gate but was bumped at the start. He finished the race 12 1/4 lengths behind Diamond Bachelor, 2 1/2 lengths in back of fourth-place Yes Yes Yes, and 4 3/4 lengths ahead of sixth-place Easy Solution.

“It just seems this horse wants to run 6 1/2 or seven furlongs,” Herrick said. “He’s more of a one-turn sprinter.”

Halfway through the race Smokin’ Ten was in fourth place only 4 1/2 lengths behind Diamond Bachelor, who led for most of the race. Smokin’ Ten trailed Diamond Bachelor by 3 1/2 lengths after three-quarters of a mile. “He kind of made a big mid-race move,” Herrick said. “He just faded a little bit from there.”

Smokin’ Ten was ridden by David Flores. The fifth-place share of the purse was $2,200, bringing Smokin’ Ten’s lifetime earnings to $24,800.

Ironically, the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes was Herrick’s first stakes race as a trainer since 2006, when he trained Short Route. Although Short Route closed out her racing career in November 2006 with the Cat’s Cradle Stakes at Hollywood Park, her previous race was the CERF Handicap stakes race at Del Mar on September 6, 2006. The CERF (California Equine Retirement Fund) Handicap was the last race run on Del Mar’s dirt track; the synthetic Polytrack surface was installed after the 2006 meet concluded.

Oughttobenaughty competed in the final race on Del Mar’s turf course recent racing has known; the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is widening the turf course to Breeders’ Cup standards. The Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes was the first of three turf races September 4, so Herrick had a horse on the turf course for that course’s final day as well as a horse on the final day of the dirt track.

“I think a lot of us wanted to go out and get a chunk of that grass,” Herrick said.

Herrick noted that neither the configuration nor the grass composition was that of the original turf course. “They had changed it a few times over the years,” Herrick said.

Herrick sees the expansion of the turf course as positive. “It needs to be a wider turf course,” he said.

San Luis Rey Downs has been closed for renovations since spring. During the closure Herrick is training a couple of yearlings at Galway Downs in Temecula while stabling his racing horses at Hollywood Park. “It’s been a real commuting challenge,” he said. “It’s tough to say the least.”

San Luis Rey Downs is expected to re-open in December. Herrick plans to return to the Bonsall facility and to train Smokin’ Ten there. “I’m sure he’ll like it like all the horses do,” Herrick said.

Chiloquin trained at San Luis Rey Downs before the renovation closure. The five-year-old gelding had won six of his 22 previous starts; the most recent of those was an allowance race March 15 at Santa Anita. Chiloquin had only one start during 2012, and the December 2011 On Trust Handicap was his last stakes race prior to the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes. He had won his only previous stakes race at Del Mar, the August 2011 Real Good Deal Stakes.

Joe Talamo was Chiloquin’s jockey in the six-furlong Pirate’s Bounty Stakes for three-year-olds and upward. Chiloquin broke last among the nine horses but entered the stretch in fifth place, three lengths behind leader and eventual winner Private Zone. Private Zone finished the race a neck ahead of second-place Ain’t No Other, who was 1 1/4 lengths in front of Chiloquin. Chiloquin crossed the finish line 1 1/2 lengths ahead of fourth-place So Brilliant.

“He ran very well,” Hansen said. “He ran a really good race.”

In horse racing “speed” refers to horses who go to the front early and win only if the distance-oriented horses don’t catch up. “The speed just kind of held on there,” Hansen said. “Disappointed we didn’t win, but not disappointed in the effort. He ran well.”

Chiloquin’s third-place finish was worth $14,688, bringing his lifetime earnings to $368,342.

The September 4 race was the first for Oughttobenaughty, a three-year-old filly. “She was a little green and got a little rankled in the first turn,” Hansen said.

Ignacio Puglisi rode Oughttobenaughty in the one-mile maiden race. She was one of two fillies making her first start. The other, Switched Up, finished tenth. Oughttobenaughty finished four lengths in back of winner Fanticola, 1 1/2 lengths behind sixth-place Charm Catcher, and a neck in front of My Looloo.

Hansen has been training his non-racing horses at Galway Downs since the closure of San Luis Rey Downs.

“I’m really sad to see it end. It’s a fun meet,” Hansen said of Del Mar’s closing day. “We’ll look forward again to next year.”