Horse Racing: Today at Del Mar, Aug. 22

Post Time 2:05 p.m.
Race 1 – 6 ½ furlongs, Purse $70,000, Maiden special weights, 3-year-olds and up
4 Dream Team – When a horse costs $1-million and is trained by Bob Baffert, you tend to notice; watch the tote board sing on this baby.
6 Colonial Power – Ran a winning race for this class last time out; big rider switch to Rafael Bejarano for the money shot.
Long Shot – 2 Skelton Pass
Race 2 – 1 mile, Purse $36,000, Claiming $20,000, 3-year-olds and up
9 Knock Em Flat – Must overcome a parking lot post with a short run to the first turn; Tyler Baze had choices and opted for Tim Yakteen here.
5 I Don’t Care Who – Claimed by trainer Jack Carava last time out; like that he hires Rafael Bejarano who won on this horse 3 races ago.
Long Shot – 8 Sea Preacher
Race 3 – 1 1/16th miles (turf), Purse $70,000, Maiden special weights, 3-year-olds and up
5 Dylan Ward – Ran like a short horse in last off a 8-month hiatus; expect him to be a lot sharper tonight and be more on the bit.
3 Air Pocket – Trainer Bob Baffert must not be happy this colt is stall a MSW after 7 career starts; lots of nibbles but no photo as of yet.
Long Shot – 1 Blue Law
Race 4 – 7 furlongs, $250,000 Pat O’Brien, 3-year-olds and up
2 Appealing Tale – If you have followed me over the years, you know how much I like cutback horses; this one should get a dream trip too.
5 Kobe’s Back – If you watch a replay of the Bing Crosby, you’ll see this one miss the break and spot the field 10-lengths; must break well today.
Long Shot – 3 Wild Dude
Race 5 – 1 mile, Purse $72,000, Optional claiming $40,000, 3-year-olds and up
7 Grazen Sky – Steve Miyadi colt gets class relief from the Real Good Deal; tactical speed to sit a perfect trip throughout.
2 Perfect Set – Has moved up the class ladder nicely since taken for $20K 4 races ago; credit the maestro Jerry Hollendorfer.
Long Shot – 1 Got Even
Race 6 – 1 1/16th miles (turf), Purse $78,000, Optional claiming $100,000, 3-year-olds and up
10 Twentytwentyvision – Exits a tremendous second in the Grade 1 Eddie Read last time out; the key is he must not regress, but repeat.
6 Boyett – Has been ultra consistent on grass and has nibbled in graded stakes company; has good tactical speed to sit a nice trip.
Long Shot – 9 Play Hard to Get
Race 7 – 6 furlongs, Purse $70,000, Maiden special weights, Fillies, 2-year-olds
1 Tiz a Tommy Town – Lost to the fabulous looking FTS Songbird in last; was strictly second best, but should improve a step while she’s at it.
7 Annie’s Curls – Another who exits the Songbird MSW race; she was so impressive that the rest were reduced to just spectators.
Long Shot – 5 Fabulous Lady
Race 8 – 1 3/8th miles (turf), $250,000 Del Mar Handicap, 3-year-olds and up
8 Finnegans Wake – If he had run his normal race in the Eddie Read, he would have won for fun; good sign that Peter Miller wheels him right back.
4 Big John B – Tepid chalk in a much harder than looks race; appears to be rounding into top form for trainer Philip D’Amato.
Long Shot – 1 Ashleyluvssugar
Race 9 – 1 ¼ miles, $1-Million TVG Pacific Classic, 3-year-olds and up
5 Red Vine – Trainer Christophe Clement doesn’t send horses out on airplanes very often; usually when he shows up, he really means business.
9 Beholder – Courageous mare takes on the males in this Grade 1 stakes; she’ll be favored but a lot of it will be with heart, not head.
Long Shot – 3 Bayern
Race 10 – 5 furlongs (turf), Purse $72,000, Allowance, 3-year-olds and up
8 Roy H – Been focused on turf sprints but he may well be better going a 2-turn mile; big rider switch to Victor Espinoza for the money shot.
2 Mal Verde – Joel Rosario might as well ride as many as he can before he takes the red eye home; the plane won’t leave for quite a while.
Long Shot – 3 Mischief Clem
Race 11 – 6 furlongs, Purse $45,000, Claiming $32,000, 3-year-olds and up
7 Buckleberry Grey – Has shown solid improvement since claimed by trainer Doug O’Neill 3 races back; likes to stalk and grind it out late.
8 Second Proposal – Corey Nakatani had options and chose to ride for Eric Kruljac; this one was super impressive beating lesser lights in last.
Long Shot – 5 Mike Man’s Gold
Best Bet - 9 Knock Em Flat (race 2)
Del Mar Friday - Picks/Winners/Mutuels, 14/5/$51.60; Long Shots, 7/1/$15.20; Best Bet, 1/0/$0
Del Mar Totals - 455/106/$737.00; Long Shots, 225/31/$393.00; Best Bets, 26/10/$43.60
SIMULCAST PLAY OF THE DAY - #9 Taghleeb (4/1) in race 9 at Saratoga. For scoring purposes, we'll make a hypothetical $2 win, place and show bet, $6 total. On Friday, Marking was scratched at Saratoga. Stats - 122/83/$647.30; Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick