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Baltas wins Del Mar fall meet trainer championship

Richard Baltas trains many of his horses at the San Luis Rey Training Center, and those horses contributed to Baltas winning the 2020 Del Mar Thoroughbred Club fall meet trainer championship.

Baltas saddled 52 horses during the meet which began Oct. 31 and concluded Nov. 29. He had 11 winners, including nine who have trained at San Luis Rey (the other two were in Europe prior to this summer). Ten of his horses finished second in the Del Mar fall meet, and three of the third-place horses were trained by Baltas.

"It's always good to win," Baltas said.

The fall meet championship was the second in a row for Baltas, who also won 11 races during the 2019 fall meet.

San Luis Rey trainers took the top three positions in the fall meet standings. Horses trained by Phil D'Amato won 10 races while Peter Miller had nine victories. (Richard Mandella also had nine first-place finishes, although Miller finished second seven times and Mandella had three horses cross the finish line in second place.) D'Amato added six second-place and five third-place results in his 42 starts. Miller's 50 starts also included four horses who finished third. Doug O'Neill shared sixth place with six wins, although his second-place total of seven was better than the five of Mark Glatt.

Baltas credited his team for his trainer championship. "Everybody does work hard," he said.

Four of Baltas' victories were in the final weekend of the meet including three in one day. "It's great," he said.

The final weekend included seven graded stakes races during those four days, which attracted top trainers from out of state. Brad Cox, who is based in Kentucky, was second among all trainers in nationwide earnings as of Nov. 30. Chad Brown, who is based in New York, was fourth in earnings. (Miller was tenth on a nationwide basis and Baltas was 17th as of Nov. 30.) Brown won four of the stakes races and Cox won one. A total of 20 out-of-state horses competed in the final weekend's stakes races.

"They made it a little tougher, but I had a couple of seconds and thirds," Baltas said.

On Nov. 26 Baltas' three-year-old filly Going To Vegas finished second in the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap, half a length behind Brown's winner Orglandes. Count Again, who is trained by D'Amato but not at San Luis Rey, won the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap race Nov. 28 with Brown's Flavius taking second and Baltas' seven-year-old gelding Next Shares finishing third.

Three trainers had four victories during the meet, which shared eighth place. Brown's four wins were from eight starts, and two more of Brown's horses placed second. Brown led the meet in trainer earnings with $581,000. (Baltas' horses earned $497,320, D'Amato had trainer earnings of $539,100, and Miller saddled horses who won a cumulative $489,124.) Cox's three starts included a win and a horse who finished third.

"It was good for racing to have them there," Baltas said.

Baltas' only fall meet victories with a horse who has not trained at San Luis Rey came on Opening Day, when Annangel won the fifth race Oct. 31, and on Nov. 28, when Masteroffoxhounds won the first race. Annangel, a three-year-old filly, raced in Scotland on June 30 before being stabled at Del Mar for the summer meet, Santa Anita Park for that track's fall meet, and then Del Mar. Masteroffoxhounds, a three-year-old colt, raced July 31 in Ireland before starting California training during the Santa Anita fall meet.

Both of Baltas' wins during the second week of the Del Mar fall meet were with San Luis Rey geldings. Six-year-old Via Egnatia won the sixth race Nov. 7 and five-year-old Paladar finished first in the fifth race Nov. 8.

Two-year-old colt Gator Shining won the first race Nov. 13. Baltas' next three victories were all with three-year-old fillies who broke their maiden. The chestnut filly Rocking Redhead finished first in the third race Nov. 14, She's Devoted won the fifth race Nov. 15, and Save The Story obtained the victory in the first race Nov. 22.

Baltas took over the lead in trainer victories with three wins Nov. 27. Three-year-old colt Yeng Again broke his maiden by winning the first race, four-year-old filly Gallovie was the winner of the third race, and three-year-old filly Lady On Ice prevailed in the fourth race.

"I do the best I can with all the horses and try to place them in the right spots and keep them healthy and happy," Baltas said.

Baltas and D'Amato shared the 2017 summer meet training championship, so this year's Del Mar championship is the third for Baltas.

"I don't really put a whole lot of emphasis on that. I just try to get the horses ready," he said. "At the end of the day it's all about the horses."

The 2020 Del Mar fall meet had no fatalities. "I think it's a big accomplishment," Baltas said.

"The trainers, veterinarians, management all deserve credit," Baltas said. "They took the right steps."

Although this year's Del Mar meets were conducted without spectators, the fall meet had a record wagering handle for that annual meet which began in 2014, and the average field size was larger than that for last year's fall meet.

"I think that was a great meet for Del Mar," Baltas said.

Baltas made his debut as a trainer on Jan. 23, 1991, at Santa Anita and won that race with Latchburn. He first saddled a horse at Del Mar in 1991, although his first trainer win at the track was not until 2004. Baltas had the fifth-place total of 12 wins in this year's summer meet.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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