Today at Del Mar: Aug. 16, 2014

TODAY AT DEL MAR by Richard Eng

Post Time 2 p.m.

Race 1 – 6 furlongs, Purse $75,000, Maiden special weights, 3-year-olds and up

6 Vegas Strip – Another chance for this Bob Baffert colt; poor effort in synthetic debut, but his race two back is fast enough to win.

2 He’s a Bling – Was a ship and win horse in last and lost less than a length when fifth; suspect can sit off horses if asked.

Long Shot – 1 Cognoscente

Race 2 – 1 1/8th miles (turf), Purse $77,000. Allowance, Fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up

6 Sistas Stroll – Ship and win horse from the Tom Proctor barn; like when they show ability at Churchill Downs, good tactical speed.

4 Kadeska – Can’t say enough about Kent Desormeaux and Bob Hess team; they are doing fabulous winning races together.

Long Shot – 3 Magnificent Shirl

Race 3 – 6 1/2 furlongs, Purse $43,000, Starter allowance $40,000, 3-year-olds and up

1 Presiding Justice – Has been a stride late 3 races in a row since graduating; can save all the ground under Drayden Van Dyke.

2 Sidepocket Champ – Speedy sort could lead if asked; suspect Elvis Trujillo will try and sit second or third and rally late.

Long Shot – 4 Magna Warrior

Race 4 – 1 mile, Purse $43,000, Claiming $32,000, 3-year-olds and up

7 Tres Borrachos – Sliding down the claiming ladder to this career low class; has tons of back speed figures to crush this field.

5 Thirtyfirststreet – This is a race full of horses on the down elevator; all depends on who has something left in the gas tank.

Long Shot – 1 Greeley Awesome

Race 5 – 1 mile (turf), Purse $77,000, Allowance, 3-year-olds and up

11 Snaps – The way the turf played on Friday, the lead is an good place to be; suspect Mike Smith will be pro-active tonight.

10 Valley Cat – Charged well, but too late, in last; like that Rafael Bejarano remains loyal to the cause.

Long Shot – 2 Zimmer

Race 6 – 5 1/2 furlongs, Purse $75,000, Maiden special weights, 2-year-olds

8 Kantune – Was well bet and ran well in career debut; Joe Talamo for Stewart Elliott who is on a suspension.

5 Hauler – Among a few good looking FTS; your big edge over me is seeing the tote board action on the unknown babies.

Long Shot -3 Abusive Power

Race 7 – 1 1/16th miles, Purse $77,000, Optional claiming $40,000, 3-year-olds and up

6 Big Tire – Ran OK for third considering it was his synthetic track debut; they set an extreme wicked fast pace last out too.

3 Yard Line – Draw a line thru the last turf race experience; returns to the synthetic main track where he has shown good ability.

Long Shot – 2 Seeking the West

Race 8 – 1 18th miles (turf), $300,000 Del Mar Oaks, Fillies, 3-year-olds

6 My Conquestadory – Had a difficult wide trip when starting from parking lot post 12; fully expect an easier trip in here.

10 Sea Queen – Has shown a ton of class back in New York; must overcome a difficult parking lot post under Rafael Bejarano.

Long Shot – 1 Diversy Harbor

Race 9 – 6 furlongs, Purse $24,000, Claiming $16,000, Fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up

5 Coconut Cream Pie – Has proven once again she is not a turf filly; looking for a much improved effort on the main synthetic track.

8 Bird In Love – Hard to believe William Antongeorgi got 3-days for his ride the other day; still looking for an infraction.

Long Shot – 2 Moscato Girl

Race 10 – 1 mile, Purse $33,000, Maiden claiming $40,000, 3-year-olds and up

9 Classified Weapon – Taking the biggest class drop in racing from MSW to maiden claiming; Simon Callaghan adding blinkers on too.

10 Silent Ruler – A ship and win from the red hot Desormeaux family, Kent and Keith; this one has traveled over Arlington synthetics.

Long Shot – 6 Royal Tale

Best Bet – 9 Classified Weapon (race 10)

Del Mar Friday – Picks/Winners/Mutuels, 14/2/$8.60; Long Shots, 7/2/$17.80; Best Bet, 1/0/$0

Del Mar Totals – 368/78/$553.40; Long Shots, 181/18/$172.20; Best Bets, 20/5/$30.40

SIMULCAST PLAY OF THE DAY – #8 Stopchargingmaria (2/1) in race 10 at Saratoga. For scoring purposes, we’ll make a hypothetical $2 win, place and show bet, $6 total. On Friday, Big Business ran second at Saratoga paying $4.00 to place and $3.30 to show. Stats – 126/76/$745.00; Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick