Race 10 at Del Mar | Saturday, July 25 | Post Time 9:30 PM Eastern

Bing Crosby Stakes – Grade 1 | Purse $400,000 | Six Furlongs | Three-Year-Olds and Upward

Top Win Contender(s): Maximum Bourbon (1), Cornucopian (6), Mad House (8)

In exactas in second: Listenupshance (2), Stronghold (5)

Maximum Bourbon (1) has won four races (in five starts) and finished second in the other, all at six furlongs on dirt. His second place finish came on March 13, but he earned his best-career 104 Equibase Speed Figure. The winner of that race was Built, who runs in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga this Saturday, where he is the favorite. Following this race Maximum Bourbon was privately purchased for what I imagine to be a hefty sum. He then changed trainers to Phil D’Amato and won his first stakes, the St. Matthews Stakes on April 30, earning a new career-best 112 figure at Churchill Downs. He won that race ‘ridden out’ by nearly six lengths. Moved to California and has worked eight times in Southern California and hasn’t missed a beat. He is only a four-year-old and is likely to get better, and he could get his first graded stakes win.

Only Cornucopian (6) has raced faster on this six-furlong trip this year than any horse in this field. That came when he won the Aristides Stakes on May 30, earning a career-best 118 figure. He also won four of his five one-turn races and the San Carlos Stakes in March, where he earned an 113 figure. Cornucopian is also a four-year-old, and he can win from the front or close. The only reason he is not the top contender is because he will be the favorite.

Mad House (8) is the only horse with more wins, six, than Maximum Bourbon at this distance. He is also a four-year-old, and he earned those six wins by making the lead. In all but one race, Mad House wasn’t challenged at any point. In that race, the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 11, Mad House was hounded through the stretch but fought and won by a half-length. He didn’t make the lead in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last November and finished last of 14. His only other poor finish in his seven races was in the Aristides, his last race, when Cornucopian was head-and-head with him, and he faded to fifth. Del Mar is a track that favors speed. This horse has put in three scintillating workouts of 45.2, 46.2, and 46.6. The most recent workout (third of 184) at Del Mar suggests that Mad House will be in front, and if he runs as well as his fast workouts indicate, he could be tough to catch.

Listenupshance (2) finished second in his last four races, with his second-best race coming in second to Cornucopian in the San Carlos earning a 108 figure. His best race was the Palos Verdes, where he earned a 110 figure. He just doesn’t have the kick of the others like Maximum Bourbon or Cornucopian. Still, he could finish second. Stronghold (5) has won five races and finished second seven times in 14 races, but he only raced six furlongs in his career start in 2023. He is fast enough, but I think his best races are at distances longer than six furlongs.

Win bets: Maximum Bourbon (1), Cornucopian (6) at odds of 2 to 1 or higher.

Mad House (8) at odds of 3 to 1 or higher. Exactas: Maximum Bourbon (1), Cornucopian (6), Mad House (8) over Maximum Bourbon (1), Cornucopian (6), Mad House (8), Listenupshance (2), Stronghold (5).