A pair of win-and-you're-in tickets to the Breeders' Cup will be on the line Aug. 29, at Del Mar, when 11 grass runners assemble in the 1 3/8-mile Del Mar Handicap (G2T) and 10 from the quicker brand of the breed go in the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) at 7 furlongs.
While the O'Brien shapes up as a wide-open contest for its $250,000 pot, the $300,000 Handicap provides a stage for Gold Phoenix to write another page of personal history. Now 8, the Irish son of Belardo will be going for his fifth straight victory in a race that dates to the founding of the track in 1937.
It makes little sense to ask if Gold Phoenix is approaching his fifth start in the Del Mar Handicap full of the same high spirits of versions one through four. After all, he just won the Eddie Read Stakes (G2T) over the course and horses half his age, which kind of speaks for itself. Now he gets two more furlongs to assert his steady, heart-driven finishing kick, against a field of mostly familiar foes.
"Based off his Eddie Read performance, he's as good if not better than he's always been," said Phil D'Amato, who has trained Gold Phoenix since his importation from Ireland in 2021.
In the July 26 Read, Gold Phoenix edged Cabo Spirit by a nose, with defending winner Formidable Man just a head back in the closest stakes finish of the summer.
"I take a lot from his workouts," D'Amato said. "He's never been a super work horse, and as we've gone along in his career, usually the sharper his workouts are, the better his races have been. His last two workouts have been really nice, doing it with his ears up, going easy the right way.
"So I'm excited," D'Amato added. "We have a horse that's doing well and knows how to win."
And win, and win. Three times in stakes this year and 13 wins in a career that has banked a shade more than $2.5 million. Gold Phoenix has established himself as a West Coast institution, with a fanbase that goes well beyond his loyal army in the Agave Racing Stable and Little Red Feather Racing partnerships.
Gold Phoenix, owned by Agave, Little Red Feather, Sterling Stables, and Marsha Naify, will carry co-highweight of 124 pounds along with Test Score, whose trainer Graham Motion already has shipped a pair of horses from his Maryland training grounds to win Del Mar stakes this summer.
"In spite of Gold Phoenix, for whom I have great respect, this race kind of stood out for me as a logical spot for Test Score," said Motion, who has dispatched the colt with assistant trainer Alice Clapham. "I struggle to know exactly what his trip is, and I thought this was a great opportunity to see if he'll get the extra furlong past a mile and a quarter."
If nothing else, Test Score can take a deep breath from the relief of banging heads against the toughest possible company. In his last two races, he faced Burnham Square and Deterministic, the top two turf horses in the land. It has been nearly a year since Test Score has run in anything but a grade 1 race, and that came in the 2025 Twilight Derby (G2T) at Santa Anita Park, which he won comfortably over his Del Mar Handicap rival Maaz.
The Michael McCarthy barn will be represented by both the French-bred Maaz and the British gelding Mondego. Maaz shook off the cobwebs in an allowance optional claiming race early in the meet after eight months away from the races, while Mondego managed to defeat Gold Phoenix earlier this year in the San Marcos Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita.
"That was a good race, but it wasn't at Del Mar," McCarthy said. Mondego was fifth to Gold Phoenix in the 2025 Handicap.
Atitlan, formerly trained by John Shirreffs, was a close third to Gold Phoenix in the 2025 Del Mar Handicap. In Atitlan's first run for Richard Mandella, he was fourth in the restricted Wickerr Stakes at the meet.
Of the rest, Flashiest usually can be relied upon to make his presence known—just not in the winner's circle. The 8-year-old son of Mizzen Mast, trained by Leonard Powell, came within three-quarters of a length of upsetting Gold Phoenix in the San Luis Rey Stakes (G3T) in March and has been second in five of his last seven starts.
The rest of the Handicap field includes the former Powell runner Nitti, recent allowance-level winners Atomic Age and Packs a Wahlop, and the state-breds Old Pal and Santa Barbarian, who finished second and fourth, respectively, in the Aug. 1 California Dreamin' Stakes.
As part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, the winner of the Del Mar Handicap will earn an automatic, fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
Del Mar, Saturday, August 29, 2026, Race 10Entries: Del Mar H. Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Santa Barbarian (CA) Tiago Josue Pereira 116 Ryan Hanson - 2 Test Score (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 124 H. Graham Motion - 3 Nitti (IRE) Victor Espinoza 119 Antonio C. Garcia - 4 Gold Phoenix (IRE) Hector Isaac Berrios 124 Philip D'Amato - 5 Atomic Age (KY) Kazushi Kimura 117 Philip D'Amato - 6 Maaz (FR) Ricardo Gonzalez 118 Michael W. McCarthy - 7 Atitlan (KY) Umberto Rispoli 122 Richard E. Mandella - 8 Mondego (GB) Antonio Fresu 122 Michael W. McCarthy - 9 Old Pal (CA) Joel Rosario 118 Mark Glatt - 10 Flashiest (KY) Armando Ayuso 121 Leonard Powell - 11 Packs a Wahlop (KY) Emisael Jaramillo 118 John W. Sadler -
Stronghold Seek Rebound in Pat O'Brien
In the Pat O'Brien, to be run just before the Del Mar Handicap at the tail end of the Saturday program, D'Amato will role the dice again with Stronghold to see if the one-time winner of the 2024 Santa Anita Derby (G1) can cultivate a second career.
The trainer did not necessarily expect Stronghold to win the 6-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) earlier in the meet, but he was far from pleased to see his good horse struggle home 9 lengths back of the fleeing 1-2 finishers, Listenupshance and Maximum Bourbon.
"He acted like he didn't even run the other day," D'Amato said. "The track was speed-favoring, and the first two were that way all the way around. There was only the one horse who closed at all. So, at seven-eighths, he should be able to get a little more involved early. That's what he likes."
The horse who finished fastest in the shorter Crosby was Moonlight, a son of Audible making his first start for the Peter Miller stable. From the moment Moonlight crossed the line that day, only 1 1/2 lengths behind the leaders, Miller set his sight on the O'Brien. Moonlight has responded with a steady stream of works, including an old-school three-eighths in :36 4/5 Aug. 24 that should set the gray/roan horse on tilt.
Video: Bing Crosby S. (G1)
D'Amato will also run Iron Man Cal, who converted admirably to dirt with a third-place finish to Journalism in the San Diego Handicap (G2). Dr. Venkman will be defending his Pat O'Brien title from last summer. Big City Lights will try to step out of his Cal-bred comfort zone, and Vodka Vodka returns to the races more than four months after winning the Sunland Park Stakes.
Bob Baffert will try to win his ninth Pat O'Brien with the rejuvenated 5-year-old March of Time. And finally, the locally based Jose D'Angelo stable will be represented by Jimmy's Dailys, making his West Coast debut, and Bartholdy, a recent $100,000 claim from a fast allowance optional claiming win at 1 mile.
Also a Breeders' Cup Challenge event, the winner of the Pat O'Brien will earn an automatic, fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).
Del Mar, Saturday, August 29, 2026, Race 9Entries: Pat O'Brien S. (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Stronghold (KY) Antonio Fresu 121 Philip D'Amato - 2 Dr. Venkman (KY) Umberto Rispoli 121 Mark Glatt - 3 Vodka Vodka (CA) Kent J. Desormeaux 121 Aggie Ordonez - 4 Gold Sweep (KY) Ricardo Gonzalez 121 John Haran - 5 Bartholdy (KY) Tyler Baze 121 Jose Francisco D'Angelo - 6 Iron Man Cal (KY) Joel Rosario 121 Philip D'Amato - 7 Moonlight (KY) Victor Espinoza 121 Peter Miller - 8 Big City Lights (CA) Kazushi Kimura 121 Richard E. Mandella - 9 March of Time (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 121 Bob Baffert - 10 Jimmy's Dailys (KY) Emisael Jaramillo 121 Jose Francisco D'Angelo -
