This week’s National Thoroughbred Racing Association rankings paint an unflattering picture of California stakes horses so far this year, with the top 25 including only three who won races at the recent Santa Anita and Los Alamitos meets: Nysos (ranked No. 2), Formidable Man (No. 21) and Splendora (No. 24). A year ago at this time, the NTRA media poll had eight California race winners in its top 25, with Raging Torrent, Journalism and She Feels Pretty in the top 10.
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Whether the trend can turn around in the second half of 2026 is a big question as Del Mar opens its eight-week summer season Friday, featuring a more lucrative stakes schedule than fans saw at a Santa Anita winter-spring meet where stakes purse and grading cuts led to more good horses shipping out than shipping in.
Purses and prestige are holding steady for Del Mar’s stakes this season. Del Mar’s $1 million Pacific Classic for 3-year-olds and up on Aug. 22 and $400,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares on Aug. 1 will be California’s richest races in the male and female heavyweight divisions. They can confer national stature on their winners, and they’re among six Del Mar stakes whose winners earn free entry in the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland.
Trainer Bob Baffert has said he could run Nysos in the Pacific Classic or keep him back east for the $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8. Baffert entered Splendora in the Grade II Molly Pitcher Stakes on the Haskell Stakes undercard at Monmouth this Saturday. Michael McCarthy-trained Formidable Man is expected to run on the Del Mar turf in the Grade II Eddie Read Stakes on July 26.
Will other stars join them?
The first Saturday of the Del Mar meet offers hopeful signs. The Grade II San Diego Handicap sees McCarthy-trained Journalism, with Umberto Rispoli reinstated as his jockey, running in California for the first time in 2026 and favored to end a losing streak at four races. The Grade II San Clemente Handicap for 3-year-old fillies on turf drew more out-of-state interest than usual, the field of 11 led by eye-catching Churchill Downs allowance-level winner Raiding Party (Ben Curtis) and East Coast stakes winners Spirit Doll (Rasheed Hughes) and Ground Support (Adam Beschizza).
The current top 10 in the NTRA rankings are Magnitude, Nysos, Golden Tempo, Forever Young, Baeza, Sovereignty, White Abarrio, Book’em Danno, Nitrogen and Deterministic.
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The poll is an imperfect measure, but how it changes this summer will be a sign of whether California stakes quality bounces back.
• New to the Del Mar wagering menu is an all-turf pick-3, costing $3 per combination, on the last three grass races each day. Value-minded bettors will note takeout is 15% on that wager, the late pick-3 and late double, and 14% on the early pick-5; it’s 20% to 23.68% on other multi-horse wagers. Win, place and show takeout is 15.43%.
• Napoleon Solo (Paco Lopez riding) races for the first time since his Preakness victory in the $1 million, Grade I Haskell Stakes for 3-year-olds Saturday in New Jersey. The field of seven includes Blue Grass winner Further Ado (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Tampa Bay Derby winner The Puma (Luis Saez), and Preakness runner-up Iron Honor (Flavien Prat). Further Ado is the one to beat; his Blue Grass romp was at 1⅛ miles; the rest are 0 for 8 at the distance.
• Trainer Diego Cervantes has Political Comment (Armando Viramontes) and three other quarter horses in a pair of trials at Los Alamitos on Saturday night for the 350-yard California Juvenile Challenge on Aug. 8.
• Plans for the team-based Horse Racing League to begin competition in February 2027 at Santa Anita and other American tracks was announced last week. The venture involves prominent thoroughbred owners, and co-founder Greg Maffei played a role in Formula 1 auto racing’s U.S. audience growth as CEO of Liberty Media. But skepticism is warranted, given the fates of past tries at building horse-racing “narrative” in points-driven series. Developments, including a draft in November, will be worth following. As for the league itself, we’ll see.
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Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at X.com/KevinModesti.
CALIFORNIA LEADERS
Totals at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets, Dec. 28-July 5
Jockeys / Wins
Armando Ayuso / 75
Emisael Jaramillo / 73
Juan Hernandez / 70
Kazushi Kimura / 69
Antonio Fresu / 65
Hector Berrios / 43
Tiago Pereira / 39
Ricardo Gonzalez / 38
Edwin Maldonado / 28
Joel Rosario / 30
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 49
Phil D’Amato / 43
Mark Glatt / 39
Bob Baffert / 33
Michael McCarthy / 32
George Papaprodromou / 32
Jeff Mullins / 31
Steve Knapp / 29
John Sadler / 26
Richard Baltas / 20
UPCOMING STAKES
DEL MAR
Friday
• $150,000 Oceanside Handicap, 3-year-olds, 1 mile on turf
Saturday
• $300,000, Grade II San Diego Handicap, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles
• $200,000, Grade II San Clemente Handicap, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf
Sunday
• $100,000 Wickerr Stakes, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf