DEL MAR, Calif. – The stakes debut of the unbeaten Goggles McCoy in Wednesday’s $100,000 Real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar will be a lot more interesting to fans than owner Tom Shapiro and trainer Steve Sherman could have envisioned.
Goggles McCoy will start as the favorite in the Real Good Deal Stakes, which is the seventh race on an eight-race program that features a pick-six carryover of $178,834 from Sunday’s program.
The program begins at 2 p.m., Pacific. The first pick-six race is due off shortly after 3 p.m.
Goggles McCoy is fast and unbeaten after three races and makes his first start outside of Northern California in the Real Good Deal Stakes for 3-year-old statebreds over seven furlongs.
Trainer Steve Sherman’s biggest concern is just getting a saddle on the gelding, and not whether Goggles McCoy can be patient in the first half of the race.
“If I had to fault him, that would be the only thing,” Sherman said. “He doesn’t wash out or get hot.”
“I don’t think he’s one-dimensional,” Sherman said of Goggles McCoy’s quickness. “Last time, Russell had a nice hold of him. The horse seemed to relax under him quite well. The horse is quick, but I think he can harness that speed, especially on a laboring track [at Del Mar]. I think he’ll do pretty well down there.
Goggles McCoy is based at Golden Gate Fields, which has a Tapeta Footings synthetic surface that Sherman also describes as laboring.
“If someone wants to get to the lead, I don’t think Russell would mind it,” Sherman said. “He’s not a run-off horse.”
Sherman, 46, is the son of prominent trainer Art Sherman and is seeking his first stakes win in Southern California. Last month, Sherman won his richest stakes in the $76,000 California State Fair Handicap at Sacramento with Ultra Blend.
The Real Good Deal drew a field of seven. Aside from Goggles McCoy, only Blue Jay Attack, who beat maidens at Hollywood Park on July 9, won his last start.
High Success won three consecutive races in late 2009 and early 2010, but was ninth in the Pasadena Stakes on turf on March 6 when trained by Doug O’Neill. The Real Good Deal Stakes will be High Success’s first start for trainer Jamie Lloyd.
The first leg of the pick six begins with a $12,500 claimer over 6 1/2 furlongs. Stroppy, who won a $9,000 claimer here July 25; Ultra Awesome, a winner of 7 of 15 starts; and Squeeze Me Tight, a game second here on opening day, merit support.
The first-time starters Contemplated and Liberal Arts are a formidable entry in the fourth race for 2-year-old statebred maidens over 5 1/2 furlongs, but they must beat He Be Fire N Ice, who was beaten a nose here July 25.
James Prior is a contender in a wide-open fifth race, an $8,000 claimer over a mile that has drawn 14 entrants and will be limited to 10 starters.
In the sixth race, Cruzin Topless, claimed for $16,000 on July 22, jumps to the $40,000 level for trainer Jack Carava. L’Enchanteresse and Sky Chant, who have run well in recent starts on turf this summer, have credentials to win a one-mile turf race.
In the final race, a maiden claimer for 2-year-olds, the first-time starter Courtside may go favored. Trained by John Sadler, Courtside has worked well in recent weeks.
Goggles McCoy beat maidens at Golden Gate Fields by 6 1/2 lengths on May 15, won an optional claimer there by 5 1/2 lengths on June 5, and then won an optional claimer against older horses by three lengths at Pleasanton on July 11. In each start, he has led throughout under jockey Russell Baze, who has the mount Wednesday.
