Del Mar begins its 82nd summer season on Friday with a 10-race card featuring the 76th running of the $100,000 Oceanside S. The restricted mile turf stakes for three-year-olds has drawn a competitive group of 14, and full fields are consistent throughout the opening-day program, which averages 11.4 entrants per race.
Oceanside – Race 9 (9 p.m. ET)
A 3 3/4-length winner of the June 6 Desert Code S., Whatmakessammyrun may go favored following two straight convincing tallies at Santa Anita. By We Miss Artie, the bay colt has turned things around for Mark Glatt, who took over training duties this spring, and Whatmakessammyrun will stretch back out to two turns with Flavien Prat.
Multiple Grade 1-placed Dream Shake, who was on the Kentucky Derby trail earlier this season for Peter Eurton, will switch surfaces after finishing fourth in a salty seven-furlong Woody Stephens (G1) on the June 5 Belmont S. undercard. Bred to handle turf, the Twirling Candy colt will add the services of Joe Bravo, who has shifted his tack to Del Mar for the 31-day summer meet.
Open turf stakes victor None Above the Law, a neck second as the favorite in the restricted June 19 Snow Chief S., merits respect for Peter Miller. Stakes runner-up Crew Dragon, last seen finishing third in a deep Keeneland turf allowance, will make his first start for new conditioner John Sadler. Brutto will try turf and stakes foes after a 6 1/2-length maiden romp on June 19. Bob Baffert trains the Nyquist colt.
Other contenders include Petruchio, who will make his first start since a close second in the grassy Singletary S. on April 25; stakes debuter Harbored Memories, who exits a pair of turf wins over maiden and entry-level allowance rivals; Fighting Force, who ships west after capturing the June 26 Not Surprising S. at Gulfstream; turf allowance scorer Flashiest; and last-out maiden winner No Foolery Here.
