Trainer Chad Brown made history on Del Mar’s closing day.
Led by winner Surge Capacity, the four horses Brown shipped in from the East ran 1-2-3-4 in the Grade I Matriarch Stakes — claiming $294,000 of the $300,000 purse in the one-mile turf race for older fillies and mares.
Track historians said it was the first time a trainer ever went 1-2-3-4 in a Grade I Stakes at Del Mar. For good measure, Brown’s Program Trading won Saturday’s Grade I Hollywood Derby.
Former Del Mar jockey champion Joel Rosario also flew in from the East to ride Surge Capacity — and rallied the 3-year-old daughter of Strong Incentive from sixth in the stretch to win by a head over Fluffy Socks (Irad Ortiz Jr.). Beaute Cachee (Umberto Rispoli) was another 1½ lengths back in third and a head ahead of 9-5 favorite Whitebeam (Flavien Prat) in fourth.
Surge Capacity’s effort was the fourth straight win — and sixth in seven years — for Brown in the Matriarch. This year’s sweep gives Brown horses 10 wins over the last seven years in the two Grade I stakes that highlight Del Mar’s annual Turf Festival.
The win was the second in a row and the fourth in five career starts for Surge Capacity ($11.40). Fluffy Socks, who won the 2020 Jimmy Durante Stakes, was racing for the fourth time at Del Mar. The all-Brown superfecta paid $1,062.70.
“She’s a fighter … a very nice horse,” Rosario said of Surge Capacity. “She likes the competition. I kind of had no choice but to stay inside in the stretch. I was just trying to save the ground and go from there. I was very lucky with her kick.”
“She always sits behind horses,” said Jose Hernandez, the assistant trainer to Brown. “She gets in trouble, then takes off when she gets in the clear. It’s just her. I’ve never seen that before.”
Stay Hot finished a neck ahead of 10-1 long shot Rothschild to win the $100,000, Grade III Cecil B. DeMille Stakes — giving trainer Peter Eurton a three winners on the final day.
Stay Hot rallied from fifth in the stretch under Antonio Fresu to pass Rotschild at the wire. Miracle Mark was third another head back while Lord Bullington — a slight favorite over Stay Hot — was fourth in the one-mile turf test for 2-year-olds.
Eurton also won the opening race with Rastaman Vibe (Hernandez, $20.60) and the second race with Yolo Calls (Edwin Maldonado, $5.40) Sunday.
“I’m exhausted,” Eurton said after Stay Hot’s win. “As it turned out, the nine hole was a little bit of a detriment but it also helped Stay Hot get outside, which was probably more comfortable. It was hard being wide at the top of the lane, but he seemed like he had something left and it was a fight to the wire.”
“I was trying to read the race before on paper,” said Fresu. “But when the gates opened, I had to drop back. I wasn’t happy where I was. Then we went a little too wide. If that didn’t happen, I think we could have won by more than a neck.”
Swan song
Del Mar’s year ended with Phil D’Amato winning a third straight fall meeting training title and Hernandez holding off Prat to win his second fall jockey title in three years.
D’Amato had one win with Almendares ($4.40) and Prat on Sunday, giving him 14 for the fall meeting. Peter Miller and Bob Baffert tied for second with eight wins apiece.
Prat had two wins Sunday — Yolo Calls and Miranda Rights $5.80) in the season finale — to finish with 19 wins. Hernandez had one win on the final day to win the jockey title with 21.
Del Mar did not suffer a fatality during the 13-day fall meeting and no horse had to be vanned off either the main track or the turf surface. The average race for the fall meeting had 7.43 starters.
The fall handle of $153.5 million was down 7 percent from 2022. But Del Mar’s 2023 totals were still above the pre-pandemic levels by 17 percent.
“We had a strong meeting,” said Del Mar President and Chief Operating Officer Josh Rubinstein. “The Turf Festival saw the best grass racing in the country. The fall meeting is an incredibly important meet for us to run. And the next two years will see the Breeders’ Cup here to kick-off the fall meeting.”
Other Sunday winners — fourth race: Quincy Market (J.G. Torrealba, $7.60); sixth race: Express Line (Mike Smith, $7), and eighth race: Bossy Bruin Gal (Torrealba, $6.60).
