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Phil D'Amato Sends Out Quartet In Yellow Ribbon
Phil D'Amato Sends Out Quartet In Yellow Ribbon originally appeared on Paulick Report.
Trainer Phil D'Amato has never shied away from placing multiple entries in big stakes races. He feels that if they fit and they're working well, that's where they will go, regardless of whether or not he has other horses in the barn that also fit and are working has been a winning formula in the past. D'Amato's been known to sweep stakes exactas and, on a few occasions, trifectas. So when he entered four horses in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon on Saturday, it was business as usual for the D'Amato operation.
This year, he's bringing back Hang the Moon in the Yellow Ribbon. The winner of last year's G2 John C. Mabee at Del Mar and the G2 Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita hasn't been seen since she ran a close sixth in the G3 Robert J. Frankel at the end of last year.'The layoff was by design,' D'Amato says. 'She reached her limit of number of races last year. We tried to squeeze in one or two too many, and I think she needed a little R & R. She's come back as good as ever.'D'Amato will also run Public Assembly, who won the G3 Royal Heroine at Santa Anita in April and then ran fifth in the G1 Gamely on Memorial Day.'I think I rushed her back too quick off of her stakes win,' D'Amato concedes. 'She was a little bit over the top in that last race. Granted, it was a Grade 1 against really nice horses. She's had some time to relax and strengthen up, and get ready for this race. I like her spacing a lot better going into Saturday.'
Mission of Joy is the newcomer to the D'Amato barn, coming over from the Graham Motion stable.'She arrived less than a month ago,' D'Amato notes. 'We got two breezes into her on the grass. She came in in good shape and has a lot of back class. Hopefully, she can regain some of that.'That leaves his longshot, Musical Rhapsody, another one he's bringing back off of a long layoff. The Irish-bred hasn't raced since her third-place finish in the CTT and TOC Stakes last year at Del Mar.
D'Amato has dominated turf racing at Del Mar in recent years, but he has only won the Yellow Ribbon once, in 2022 with the talented mare, Going Global. There will be several trainers on Saturday looking to make sure he doesn't win another one. Like Michael McCarthy, who will saddle Liguria, winner of the G2 Buena Vista in March. She subsequently finished third in the Gamely.'I thought her effort was solid in the Gamely,' McCarthy contends. 'She's come down here and is training as good if not better. We're looking for a solid performance this weekend.'Liguria came to his barn early this year after racing two years in the east with trainer Chad Brown. She has experience on the track, winning the G3 Jimmy Durante as a 2-year-old in 2022.
Heredia is the lone shipper in the race. She's posted a couple of third-place finishes in New York for trainer Motion since arriving in the U.S. this past winter. Unlike most shippers coming into Del Mar to run in a graded stakes, the English-bred is not here testing the waters for this fall's Breeders' Cup.'We're just taking it race by race,' assistant trainer Alice Clapham notes. 'We did think about entering her in a race at Saratoga (the G2 Ballston Spa), but they thought this track might suit her better. We were looking for a firmer track because we haven't had one for her yet.'
Watchtower, trained by Richard Baltas, and Mahina, from the Paddy Gallagher barn, round out the field of eight going a mile and a sixteenth on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. The 73rd running of the Yellow Ribbon Handicap goes off as race 9 on the 10-race Saturday the field from the rail out with the jockeys and the morning line odds: Hang the Moon (Kazushi Kimura, 3-1); Heredia (Juan Hernandez, 4-1); Liguria (Umberto Rispoli, 7/2); Public Assembly (Antonio Fresu, 5-1); Watchtower (Mirco Demuro, 12-1); Mission of Joy (Armando Ayuso, 6-1); Musical Rhapsody (Ricky Gonzalez, 12-1), and Mahina (Hector I. Berrios, 8-1).
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.
