A Happy Graduation for Trainer : French Seventyfive Ends Canney’s Del Mar Drought

DEL MAR —  As the first cocktail hour of the long Labor Day weekend approached, it was fitting that French Seventyfive won the $75,000-added Graduation Stakes Friday at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

Named after a mix of champagne and brandy, French Seventyfive gave trainer Bill Canney his first stakes victory at Del Mar in 15 years by holding off Chime Song in the stretch to win the six-furlong race for 2-year-olds bred in California.

Eddie Champion finished third, and favored Solar Launch was fourth.

A 63-1 longshot in his Aug. 2 debut at Del Mar--a $50,000 maiden claimer--French Seventyfive won impressively by five lengths and paid $128.60, one of the largest payoffs of the meeting.

Canney said the margin of victory in his colt’s debut frightened him.

“I thought someone might be watching, and maybe he would get claimed,” Canney said. “I bet $2 across and hoped for the best.”

Canney said he will next race French Seventyfive at Santa Anita--where the horse is trained--and skip the one-mile Del Mar Futurity Sept. 13.

“It’s too far for him to go too soon,” Canney said.

Jockey Martin Pedroza won his second 2-year-old stakes race of the meeting. He earlier guided Doyouseewhatisee to victory in the Aug. 9 De Anza Stakes.

Friday’s race was Pedroza’s first aboard French Seventyfive; Rafael Meza rode the colt on Aug. 2.

“It was a nice pickup,” Pedroza said. “Rafael told me this is a nice horse. (Canney) told me the horse has some speed, but I’d be better off sitting behind horses.”

“He’s a game little horse. He tries very hard as little as he is. He’s got a lot of guts. I think the longer he goes, the better.”

French Seventyfive is owned by the Hillside Stable of Mrs. Louis Rowan, wife of the late director of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and Wheelock Whitney, who ran for governor of Minnesota and lost two years ago. Canney said a French Seventyfive was one of Louis Rowan’s favorite drinks.

French Seventyfive paid $13.60, $7 and $5.80, Chime Song $9.40 and $8 and Eddie Champion $18.80.

Del Mar Notes

Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye’s horse, Kimo’s Kid, won the fourth race but was disqualified for interference on the far turn. The disqualification interrupted a hat trick for Delahoussaye, who won the third and the fifth races. Delahoussaye later won the ninth. The interference by Kimo’s Kid set off a chain reaction that caused Amir Cedeno to be knocked off Daleclavo. Cedeno suffered a sprained back and sprained right wrist and will be off all mounts until Wednesday. . . . Actor Jack Klugman was in the winner’s circle for the first time in nine years Thursday after his horse, Akinemod, led all the way to win the $32,000 allowance feature for fillies and mares. . . . Trainer Dean Greenman was fined $1,000 for administering Butazolidin, an anti-inflammatory drug, to his horse Gregg’s Command before the 10th race on Aug. 2 at the Orange County Fair.