DEL MAR — Carl Spackler is a grass horse — of course.
The famed greenskeeper of that name played by Bill Murray in the classic 1980 comedy “Caddyshack” would not have it any other way.
But the grass this Carl Spackler is familiar with has nothing to do with the kind the other Spackler knew all too well. That was a “cross of … Kentucky bluegrass, featherbed bent and Northern California sinsemilla.”
This Carl Spackler is a 4-year-old colt, and he’s not on the hunt for gophers. He’ll be chasing — or being chased by — 11 other horses in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile over a Del Mar turf course made strictly of GN1 Bermudagrass. (The GN is for Greg Norman.)
So why Carl Spackler?
“He was an Irish-bred horse, so any opportunity to have fun with the name, we took,” owner Bob Edwards said. “Obviously, ‘Caddyshack,’ Carl Spackler, being a turf colt — it kind of all lines up — and we did the same thing with the sister Sandtrap and named her in the same vein. Hopefully, you’ll see it now in pedigree lines for years.”
The name has given the horse “quite a following,” said trainer Chad Brown, who is confident Carl Spackler will run well Saturday but expressed concern about a “very challenging” outside post position.
“It’s just a matter of how much ground he’s going to lose in a race where he has to run his very, very best,” Brown said. “If he runs a similar race to his last race (a gate-to-wire victory in the Turf Mile at Keeneland) … it does put him in the mix. His morning-line odds (6-1, fifth choice) probably accurately reflect where he fits with this group.”
Bing Bang, big upset?
Carl Spackler isn’t the only Breeders’ Cup participant named after a fictional character.
Meet Howard Wolowitz.
Fans of “The Big Bang Theory” will recognize one of the main characters on the show. That Howard Wolowitz was an engineer and NASA astronaut; the equine version is a long shot in the $1 million Turf Sprint, the opening Breeders’ Cup race Saturday.
“I have to assume the horse has low self-esteem but wins nevertheless,” Chuck Lorre, co-creator and executive producer of “Big Bang,” said through a Warner Bros. Television spokesman.
According to Chad Summers, racing manager for Gold Square LLC, owner Al Gold was having trouble sleeping earlier this year and spending a lot of late nights watching reruns of the comedy. One day, Summers said, Gold told him they needed to name a horse Howard Wolowitz.
Summers said he suggested waiting for one of next year’s 2-year-olds. Gold said no, pick a horse who hasn’t run yet (because the name could still be changed).
Said Summers: “I said we have this one but he’s our best one. (Gold said), ‘From now on his name’s Howard Wolowitz.’
“And from then on he got much faster.”
The 3-year-old originally named Cabin Pressure debuted in March and has run just four times, but his two victories include last month’s rally in the Franklin-Simpson Stakes, the first Grade I race ever at Kentucky Downs and the first Grade I win for trainer Jose D’Angelo, a Venezuelan native. Gold purchased the son of Munnings for $240,000 in January 2022.
Live racing begins
The Breeders’ Cup doesn’t start until Friday but there will be live racing Thursday at Del Mar with the opening of the track’s 11th fall season. Nine races are scheduled beginning at 12:30 p.m.; the feature is the $100,000 Let It Ride Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf. King of Gosford is the 5-2 favorite despite the far outside post position in the field of 10.
After this weekend, racing continues every Friday through Sunday through Dec. 1. For the first time there will be no racing on Thanksgiving but there will be seven turf stakes races that weekend, highlighted by a pair of Grade I events, the Hollywood Derby on Nov. 30 and the Matriarch on Dec. 1.
Hat trick plus one
One constant at the Breeders’ Cup the past three years has been Charlie Appleby, who has trained the winner of the Mile each time: Space Blues in 2021 at Del Mar, Modern Games in 2022 at Keeneland and Master of the Seas last year at Santa Anita.
Appleby is back this year and it should be no surprise that his 3-year-old Notable Speech is the 7-2 morning-line favorite, after winning the 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes. And Appleby knows what’s at stake.
“Looking through the stats, I don’t think anyone’s won four on the bounce in all these races,” Appleby said, “so we’ll have a go at it, as they say.”
Appleby is correct. Six trainers over the past 40 years have won the same Breeders’ Cup race three times “on the bounce,” or in succession, but no one has completed the quad. D. Wayne Lukas did it twice, in the Distaff and Juvenile; the others were Brown in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Peter Miller in the Turf Sprint, Bob Baffert in the Classic, Bill Mott in the Distaff and Freddie Head in the Mile.
More scratches
Tenacious Leader will not run in the Juvenile Turf and the two horses on the also-eligible list, Sabertooth and Kale’s Angel, declined to replace him, leaving a field of 13. The latter two will race instead in a stakes race on Friday’s undercard.
• Ylang Ylang was scratched from the Filly & Mare Turf, leaving a field of 12.
• Baffert told Daily Racing Form that Tuesday’s withdrawal of Non Compliant from the Juvenile Fillies was due to a “hot foot.”
