DEL MAR \u2013 The first time Himika and Revera met, it was a mismatch comparable to the perceived value of the 2-year-old fillies.<\/p>\n
Himika, a daughter of Curlin who brought $900,000 at sale, scored a 4 \u00bc-length win over Revera in the Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
But Revera got even Sunday at Del Mar, out-battling Himika over the last half of the seven-furlong, $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes for juvenile fillies.<\/p>\n
The difference? In October, Himika was on the outside of Revera. This time, Revera had the outside lane. Revera jockey Antonio Fresu and trainer John Sadler agreed that was a major factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe showed her class and improvement,\u201d Fresu said after Revera, a $90,000 purchase, pulled away slightly in the last half of the stretch to finish three-quarters of a length ahead of Himika at the end of a prolonged side-by-side duel.<\/p>\n
The pair ran side-by-side from the end of the backstretch to the finish \u2014 Revera to the outside of Himika and Juan Hernandez.<\/p>\n
It was three-wide on the far turn with early-race leader Bourbon and Ginger along the rail. But it clearly became a two-filly battle coming out of the turn with the Bob Baffert-trained, 1-5 favorite Himika pulling a head in front. But the John Sadler-trained Revera ($11.80) was the stronger of the two on the outside and clearly got the edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has always been a nice filly,\u201d Fresu said of Revera. \u201cToday she stepped forward and moved. Today she looked fantastic. She gave me a really nice feeling. She likes to stalk outside and just make one move. Today I was able to do that. The last time I couldn\u2019t do that because I drew the rail and I had to use a little too much early on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sadler admitted it was \u201cnice having Baffert on the inside of us instead of the other way around like in the Anoakia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was the opposite,\u201d he added. \u201cHe had to chase and we were on the outside and it looked like Revera was traveling comfortably. I think that made the difference today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hernandez rode Himika one race after walking away uninjured after coming off Mr. Disrespectful at the starting gate in the seventh race.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Bob Hope Stakes complement to Arnaz originally scheduled for Sunday and rescheduled for next Friday has been canceled. The redraw for the 7-furlong race for 2-year-olds drew only three horses.<\/p>\n
Graded stakes begin<\/p>\n
Racing resumes Friday with a pair of $100,000, Grade 3 stakes highlighting the penultimate weekend of the fall meeting.<\/p>\n
The Native Diver and Red Carpet will be the first of nine graded stakes over the final six days of racing, wrapping with the annual Turf Festival Nov. 28-30.<\/p>\n
Nevada Beach should be the headliner for Saturday\u2019s Native Diver \u2013 1 1 1\/8-mile test on the main track for older horses. One of three Baffert horses nominated for the Native Diver, Nevada Beach won the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27 before running seventh in the Breeders\u2019 Cup Classic in his first Del Mar start. Mike Smith was aboard the 3-year-old son of Omaha Beach in both those races.<\/p>\n
Baffert\u2019s Privman and Winterfell are also among the nine nominees for the Native Diver. Privman, a 3-year-old son of Justify, won both of his Del Mar starts last summer. Winterfell, a 4-year-old son of Arrogate, will be making his first start of 2025.<\/p>\n
Sadler has nominated Indispensible, who finished fourth in the Pacific Classic on Aug. 30 at Del Mar. Another horse to watch with two Del Mar wins is Vodka Vodka.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s Red Carpet Stakes was formerly Del Mar\u2019s Thanksgiving feature and the opening race of the Turf Festival. It is no longer either. Fourteen fillies and mares, including defending champion Mrs. Astor, have been nominated for the 1 3\/8-mile test. The Red Carpet looks to be a wide-open race. Mrs. Astor ran third in her only Del Mar start since the 2024 Red Carpet.<\/p>\n
Trainer Phil D\u2019Amato has five nominees in Public Assembly; the Irish-bred trio of Eternal Reign, Musical Rhapsody and Thebestisyettobe, and the Brazilian-bred Sun of Hill. Trainer Patrick Gallagher has nominated Mahina, a 5-year-old daughter of Bolt d\u2019Oro, who finished fourth in the 2024 Red Carpet and started two Del Mar Grade 2 stakes last summer.<\/p>\n
Plus, eastern trainers Graham Motion (Sirona) and Miguel Clement (Maryland Millions Turf runnerup Youknownothing) could ship in entrants.<\/p>\n
Notable<\/p>\n
Jockey Tiago Pereira and trainer Steve Knapp teamed on winning favorite Berlin Wall ($5.00) in the seventh Sunday to cap a three-win day for both. Pereira scored earlier with Fire Mountain ($6.40) in the first and Smoovin Saturday ($20.20) in the third. Knapp scored earlier with Chase N Ryan ($13.00) in the second and favorite Pokerknightatvees ($4.80) in the fourth.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Leading rider Mirco Demuro picked up his 10th winner of the fall meeting, rallying slow-starting Magnificat ($12.00) to victory along the rail in the fifth race. Demuro\u2019s 10 wins have come in just 22 starts during the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u2022 NBC\u2019s Breeders\u2019 Cup ratings at Del Mar this year were up 18% over the 2024 ratings at the seaside oval. An estimated 6 million viewers turned in for Saturday\u2019s featured races, with viewership peaking at 1.4 million during the Classic. The average viewership of 950,000 was up 6% from 2024. Breeders\u2019 Cup officials estimate another 300,000 watched the two-day event at simulcast sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DEL MAR \u2013 The first time Himika and Revera met, it was a mismatch comparable to the perceived…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[8506,181,74,76,75,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-56315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-horse-racing","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}