Frankly Speaking - Del Mar, August 24th

A Shot of Anisette...Leonard Powell...and more!

A Shot of Anisette

Most of the stories in this space have been about my exploits this summer, but for this column, I am happy to take a back seat to the real stars of the show: the horses! And I mean one horse in particular: and that’s the all-world filly Anisette (GB). Wow. What a special lady.

On Saturday, Anisette (GB) made her third start in the States in the prestigious Del Mar Oaks (G1), for 3-year-old fillies going 9-furlongs on the lawn, and just when I thought she couldn’t run any better than she did in her first two U.S. starts, she showed up with a performance that is sure to be the highlight of the summer.

Rewind back to a month ago, the first Saturday of the meet: as soon as she crossed the finish line in the San Clemente (G2), I—and everyone else with two eyes—anointed her the winner of the Del Mar Oaks (G1) because she looked so good. She sat comfortably off a quick pace, was covered up along the backstretch, moved a little early into that fast pace because Umberto Rispoli wanted to make sure they had clear sailing around the turn before tipping her out into the lane, and then she exploded with a sensational turn of foot. As she crossed the finish line, track announcer Trevor Denman proclaimed: “She’s absolutely stylish today!” I proclaimed: “There’s your Del Mar Oaks (G1) winner.” She then proceeded to gallop out a mile ahead of everyone else.

She won that San Clemente (G2) so effortlessly, with such a classy way of going. She’s sleek; she’s smooth; she’s handy; and she’s powerful. She’s got it all—so it was no surprise that she went off favored in the Del Mar Oaks (G1) a month later. In retrospect, 2/1 was a gift on her; she probably should have been 7/5 on Saturday, even though I tried to make a case for two others in the race (Window Shopping and Impact Warrior [IRE]).

Go back and watch the replay of Saturday’s race: Anisette (GB) was incredible—and she had to work for it a little bit. She sat way off a slow pace, and every time Rispoli tried to make a move with her, he got stymied. He was patient and fearless, and right after a hole closed on him between horses during a crucial point in the race, he found daylight at the rail, asked Anisette (GB) to go on with it, and she did, exploding up the wood in the blink of an eye. Before you knew it, she had opened up on the field and just destroyed them.

I went on Jason Beem’s TwinSpires podcast on Monday (listen here: @BeemieAwards), and we talked about this effort (fyi: my segment starts at around the 11:10 mark). I said that if anyone gets the chance, watch the overhead drone footage of the race. Rispoli’s ride was incredible. Fortunately, that footage is available. Click this link to the @JockeyCam Twitter feed, and you can see the race from both the overhead cam and from Rispoli’s helmet cam. Strap yourself in because it’s quite a ride.

I was a little sentimental when Anisette (GB) crossed the wire. My dad—who passed away in 2018—loved himself a shot of anisette in his espresso after a good Italian meal. I thought it was only fitting that the boss filly was ridden by an Italian. And then I thought a bit more: Anisette (GB) really is an all-world horse. She’s a Great Britain–bred, ridden by an Italian, trained by a Frenchman, and racing in the good old U. S. of A. How cool is that?

Want to see something even more cool? Check out this picture of Anisette (GB) and trainer Leonard Powell’s daughter, which was posted here @LeoPowellRacing on Twitter. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then that photo has this column beat by a mile.

Spot Play

If you listened to the In the Money Plus podcast Pete and I did for last Saturday’s Late Pick 5, you know how good I felt about the sequence. So good, in fact, that I was arrogant and played my top combo multiple times instead of playing one spread ticket using all of my selections, just in case the “A’s” and “B’s” didn’t fall the right way. In the long run, avoiding caveman tickets is the better move, but it wasn’t on Saturday when every horse Pete and I talked about (which would have cost only $108 caveman-style) came home a winner, keying a $6,751.90 payout in the Late Pick 5. I didn’t hit it—but I hope some of you did!

But my point is: I was feeling so confident about some of those races that I had two Spot Plays for Saturday, one in Race 6 and one in Race 9.

My play in Race 6—Evening Sun (GB)—isn’t even worth talking about. The only positive is that he was way overbet—down to 3/1 off a 6/1 morning-line—so I didn’t make a win bet on him. Still, I used him to start off my Pick 5 (stupidly not playing a ticket with my “B” Astronomer, who won at 21/1), and he was nowhere to be found. He just didn’t fire. No excuse. Nothing. It was very frustrating, to say the least.

My Spot Play in Race 9, Tone Feelin, ran a bit better, but he was part of a really fast early pace, and he just got tired at the sixteenth pole and finished fifth at 11/1. That effort will make him a double upgrade next time, so I’ll give him one more chance to redeem himself, assuming he comes back at a similarly low claiming level.

So let’s see if we can reverse form today!

Let’s look at the lid lifter and focus on the trainer we just wrote about above: Leonard Powell, the man who trains Anisette (GB). I actually like his runner here—#3 CHIPPEWA BUD (8/1)—in this one-mile main-track affair for Maiden Special Weights of the Cal-bred variety. First off, I can’t type the word “Chippewa” without paying homage to Gordon Lightfoot and his epic “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. So…please humor me: “The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down…of the big lake they call ‘Gitche Gumee’.”

Okay…back to the race! I know the rail horse, #1 DONT FIGHT THE FED (6/5), should be tough after getting DQ’d from top honors last time at this level and distance, but that was a tough effort, and there is a world in which he backs up a bit—or what happens if the rail is dead on Thursday? I’m going to try and beat him.

#3 CHIPPEWA BUD (8/1) doesn’t look like much on paper, nor does he look any good if you just watch the replay of his debut—but I’m going to pretend that race never happened for a few reasons. First off, he was debuting going long on the turf for a very patient trainer, so to me, that was just a conditioning race to build stamina and gain experience. He was off slowly; he was kept wide; and the jock never really asked because the horse was never going to win—but the horse did try all the way to the wire. I like that Powell now moves him to the dirt with that turf race under his belt. I also like that Fresu sticks around.

More importantly, he’s the only 4-year-old in the field against a bunch of sophomores, and that’s still a good angle for me even this late in the year. I’m willing to take a shot at 8/1 based on that alone, but throw in Powell’s second-time start numbers as well as his turf-to-dirt numbers, and I think this guy can outrun his odds.

The Feature

I wrote about Saturday’s feature above, as Anisette (GB) took the Del Mar Oaks (G1) in impressive fashion, so I won’t recap that here. And, of course, we all know there was no racing on Sunday due to the weather, so we pick up with today’s non-feature, since there’s no traditional stakes race on this eight-race Thursday card.

But there’s always a daily contest race for DMTC.com, so check out my analysis of contest Race 6, a very tough $32K/N2L conditional-claimer contested at 8-furlongs on the turf with the rails at 24-feet. Just click on the Del Mar “Race of the Day” button at www.frankscatoni.com for my horse-by-horse preview of the race.

Winning Favorites Report

I always find the Winning Favorites Report printed in the Del Mar Stable Notes interesting, so I’ll share it with you here:

(Current Through August 18, 2023 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 59 out of 160 -- 36.88%
Winning favorites on dirt -- 34 out of 91 -- 37.36%
Winning favorites on turf -- 25 out of 69 -- 36.23%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 13 out of 22 -- 59.09%
In-the-Money favorites -- 99 out of 160 -- 61.88%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 17 out of 22 -- 77.27%

This Week at a Glance

--Thursday, 8/24: “Free & Easy” Thursdays; Newcomers’ Seminar

--Friday, 8/25: Solana Beach Stakes; Happy Hour; Turf Club Fridays

--Saturday, 8/26: Pat O’Brien (G2); Tacos & Tequila Festival; CARMAthon; Saturday Handicapping Seminar

--Sunday, 8/27: Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3); Taste of the Turf Club; Seniors’ Day; “Best Bet” livestream

Upcoming Seminars

--Thursday, 8/24: Newcomers’ Seminar at 1:05 p.m. PDT in the Plaza de Mexico inside the Stretch Run entrance: Newcomers' Seminar (dmtc.com).

--Saturday, 8/25: Saturday Handicapping Seminar with local horseplayer Carlos Ortega at 1:05 p.m. PDT in the Plaza de Mexico inside the Stretch Run entrance (and livestreamed on my Twitter feed @ScatoniSureShot: Weekend Handicapping Seminar (dmtc.com).

--Sunday, 8/26: “Best Bet” livestream with 2012 NHC Champion Michael Beychok at 11:00 a.m. PDT on all of Del Mar’s social media platforms, including YouTube: Best Bet (dmtc.com).

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Be sure to check out www.frankscatoni.com for what’s good every day during the Del Mar meet.

As I always say: Good luck to us…and let’s make some money!!!