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Off a win in the Snow Chief Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on turf, Shady Tiger will cutback and switch to dirt for Friday's Real Good Deal at Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Four-race win streaks are not unusual for one horse. But two prominent horses both seeking their fifth straight wins on the same Del Mar card help make Friday’s program unique.
In race 1, an allowance sprint on turf and race 6, a dirt sprint stakes, the favorites are rolling. Man O Rose seeks his fifth straight in the turf race after a sharp win at Santa Anita in 1:06.88, the fastest six-furlong turf race of the winter-spring season. Man O Rose faces Unconquerable Keen on Friday in a prep for the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap over the same course Aug. 31.
Shady Tiger, also on a four-win streak, looks tough in the $150,000 Real Good Deal Stakes. Thirteen are entered in the seven-furlong sprint for California-bred 3-year-olds including sharp debut turf winner Pure Madness, stakes winner Last Call London, and possibly Known Idea.
The meet’s most active trainer, Phil D’Amato, runs Unconquerable Keen and Beer Can Man in the turf sprint. He also runs Shady Tiger and Final Storm in the Real Good Deal. D’Amato, who has started 37 horses and won five races the first two weeks, has a solid one-two punch in the stakes.
“Shady Tiger’s got tactical speed, Final Storm’s got a nice late kick,” D’Amato noted. And though Final Storm needs a pace meltdown and a clean start to upset, Shady Tiger drew outside and employs a pace-pressing style under Juan Hernandez. Shady Tiger can create his own trip.
A gelding by Smiling Tiger owned by breeder Rusty Brown, Shady Tiger won four Santa Anita races following his runner-up debut last fall at Del Mar. After maiden and allowance wins, he crushed the Echo Eddie Stakes and scored a front-running win in the Snow Chief Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
In cutting back to seven furlongs on dirt, Shady Tiger is returning to his preferred conditions, as his fastest two races were dirt sprints. Although he has not started in more than two months, the Real Good Deal was always the summer target, and a fast team workout July 27 tipped his readiness.
“He breezed 58 and change and looked like he was going in 1:02,” D’Amato said. “He’s gonna be ultra-tough to beat.”
Shady Tiger’s 58.40 clocking was the co-fastest five-furlong work, in company with graded stakes-winning older mare Desert Dawn, who runs Saturday in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch.
D’Amato said, “I might run [Shady Tiger] one more time after this, then give him a little break,” he said. “That’s the plan, but it’s hard to turn out a horse that just keeps getting better and better.”
Especially with races such as the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on the horizon. None Above the Law won both the Real Good Deal and Del Mar Derby in 2021. First things first for Shady Tiger, a likely low-odds winner of the Real Good Deal.
Pure Madness is the fastest in the Real Good Deal, based on his 82 Beyer Speed Figure in an impressive debut against open maidens. That was a turf sprint, but trainer Brian Koriner is not concerned about moving the Sir Prancealot colt to dirt.
“He’s always trained good on dirt and he’s always worked well [at Del Mar],” Koriner said. “Last year before he got a little chip in his knee, his works here were super.”
What’s not super for Pure Madness is the inside draw and coming off Lasix. “I know he can run on dirt, that’s not the issue,” Koriner said. “It’s if he can handle no Lasix.”
Victor Espinoza worked Pure Madness and rides him Friday for the first time in a race.
Long-term significance of the Real Good Deal is uncertain, but 2021 runner-up The Chosen Vron later became the top sprinter in California; 2022 Real Good Deal runner-up Slow Down Andy subsequently won the Del Mar Derby and Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita.
The turf allowance that kicks off the card is a prep for Green Flash. Man O Rose, in his current form, could win both. After switching to dirt and winning three straight, trainer Jeff Mullins moved him back to turf last time. Jockey Edwin Maldonado was not sure what to expect.
“Edwin said he’s better on dirt,” Mullins said. “Then when [Man O Rose] won the grass race, he goes, ‘I don’t know, he might be better on the turf.’ ”
Apparently, surface does not matter. Man O Rose earned a 104 Beyer and should be tough with a pressing trip behind front-runners Unconquerable Keen and Fast Buck.
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