Salamis Outkicks Tom's Magic in Hollywood Derby

A dawdling pace in the $301,500 Hollywood Derby (G1T) Nov. 29 at Del Mar turned the race into a test of late acceleration, and Salamis passed with flying colors. Closing from sixth, the talented colt outpunched Tom's Magic and Test Score to take the top-level 1 1/8-mile grass race for 3-year-olds. Salamis raced 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:50.74 under Umberto Rispoli. He paid $8.20 to win. Tom's Magic ran second, beaten a neck by the winner, while favored Test Score was another neck back in third. A 52-1 longshot in Kokosan led the way early with fractions of :24.14, :49.92, and 1:15.18, but those soft splits did not provide enough of an edge for him to repel the favorites. The top finishers swallowed him at the head of the lane, and he faded to fifth. A pace-chasing Tempus Volat briefly took command with a mile in 1:39.20, but he too was overhauled, checking in fourth. Salamis made up 3 3/4 lengths in the final 3 furlongs of the Hollywood Derby. He was fifth, 2 lengths behind, with a furlong to run. But a final eighth timed in :11.23 by Equibase's Global Positioning System was enough for him to close the gap. He gave trainer Chad Brown a second graded stakes win on the Saturday card at Del Mar after Just Aloof captured the Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) for 2-year-old fillies earlier in the afternoon. Rispoli acknowledged he was "a little bit worried—slow pace—but Chad's horses, they're capable. They have such a nice turn of foot like that." Rispoli said Brown's instructions were to keep his mount's right side clear, believing that under that scenario, the colt would best show his turn of foot. The race played out without any right-side pressure on Salamis. He improved his record to 3-0-2 in seven starts and his earnings to $353,363. He has won three of his last four races, capturing a maiden race and the Gio Ponti Stakes in his earlier victories. His one loss since the summer came when he ran a close fifth in the Oct. 25 Bryan Station Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland. "This horse is really talented, and I knew he could get there," assistant trainer Jose Hernandez said. "He's been running well in his last three races. He's been training really well at Keeneland and here. He deserved to win this race." Rispoli won the Hollywood Derby for the second straight year after success in 2024 aboard the Michael McCarthy-trained Formidable Man. Brown, meanwhile, increased his tally in the Hollywood Derby to a record five wins. The New York-based trainer previously was successful with East Coast shippers Program Trading (GB) (2023), Domestic Spending (GB) (2020), Raging Bull (FR) (2018), and Annals of Time (2016). A dark bay or brown homebred for Juddmonte, Salamis is the second graded stakes winner out of the grade 1-winning First Defence mare Antonoe. Salamis' half sister, Segesta (Ghostzapper), took the 2024 Wonder Again Stakes (G2T) and 2025 Matchmaker Stakes (G3T) for Juddmonte and Brown. Also twice grade 1-placed, she is one of the favorites in the Nov. 30 Matriarch Stakes (G1T) at Del Mar. Salamis is a son of Speightstown, who died in December 2023 at age 25 after a highly successful stud career. Call Sign Seven, who upset the Seabiscuit Handicap (G2T), was an earlier graded winner for Speightstown on the Saturday Del Mar card.