Del Mar
Race 8
Dandy Warhol
Mark Glatt – Tyler Baze
3-year-old gelding; Dandy Man – Diamond Rio (Captain Rio)
Formerly trained by Barry Fitzgerald. A winner of his sole start to date, landing a maiden at Dundalk on synthetics by 4.75 lengths from National Genereaux (runs in race 10; see below) for a trainer who is very capable despite a small string. This gelding couldn’t have been much more impressive on debut; he did get a perfect stalking trip there but powered clear with good splits under only moderate handling despite running a little green in front – he was very professional from the stalls. He switches to turf here and stretches out to a mile, but his dam was a winner over 10f on the green stuff and her dam stayed further still, winning over 14f, so neither of those factors would be a major concern at this early stage of his career. With that said, Dandy Man out of a Captain Rio mare is a pedigree that should be highly effective on soft going, so very firm turf would be a nagging doubt. He ran to about an 82 Beyer on debut which would make him fairly competitive here, particularly given he has scope and potential for a fair bit better than that.
Race 10
National Generaux
George Papaprodromou – Kyle Frey
National Defense – Just Special (Cadeaux Genereux)
Formerly trained by Ken Condon. A maiden after after four starts. Started out in a back-end turf maiden in October of last year, gelded already but relatively prominent in the betting, and didn’t show a lot, beating just one opponent. Showed a fair bit more next time out on synthetics, coming to hold every chance but hanging under pressure and maybe not quite getting home over the mile at that stage of career. Had a few months off subsequently and ran a solid race first time up, chasing home the clear winner, Dandy Warhol (see above), proving no match but boxing on well. He ran his best race most recently, doing well to get a very close second having been held up off a very steady gallop, running the last 3 furlongs in 34.08 seconds. That form hasn’t worked out well at all, but he was the best horse there. We estimate he can run to around an 80 Beyer here, two shy of the race par of 82, and on that basis looks capable of hitting the board at the very least if ready to roll.
Admiralty Place (GB)
Michael McCarthy – Javier Hernandez
4-year-old gelding. Territories – Imperialistic (Imperial Ballet)
Formerly trained by Jessica Harrington. A maiden after six starts, this gelded son of Territories has had an eclectic career to date, and makes his debut for a fourth trainer on just his seventh start. He started his career back in June 2020 for a relatively low percentage trainer, showing little at a big price when finishing 13th. He returned in April of last year, this time in France for Florian Guyader, showing more this time out, running on late to finish third in a race that hasn’t really worked out. Gelded, he made another barn change, returning to Ireland to run for leading trainer Jessica Harrington following a 337 day break. He ran an excellent race on his debut for that yard, finishing third in a strong maiden at the Curragh, and then finishing a close second to Needle Lace, who went on to run very well in a valuable handicap last month. Admiralty Place did the same himself on this third start of the season, looking unlucky not to win a strong looking handicap on his penultimate start, denied room at crucial stages. He was just touched off back in Maiden company most recently, but the winner there is talented and that was another solid run. There is a bit of a concern that the defeats are starting to mount up now, but he ran to an equivalent of an 89 Beyer last time which would make him very competitive in this spot.
