Georgie Boy rallies at Del Mar

DEL MAR -- Georgie Boy came from far back in the pack to win the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on Wednesday, closing day of the 43-day meet before 17,069 at the North San Diego County racetrack.

Georgie Boy is owned by 75-year-old George Schwary of Northridge, who has been in the horse racing business for only five years, and trained by 67-year-old Kathy Walsh of Arcadia, who followed her father into the business at a young age. Walsh became the first female trainer to win the Futurity in its 60-year history.

It makes for a good yarn, but the big story of the meet was the new synthetic Polytrack, and the key issue was its safety record. It was nearly perfect during the first half. Only one horse, which broke down during training, had to be euthanized.

By the end of the meet, however, the count was up to six after three were euthanized last weekend. Two of the three deaths were the result of injuries suffered during races -- the only two such cases during the meet. The other four euthanized horses suffered injuries during a morning workout.

There were five horses who had to be put down after suffering injuries on the turf course, bringing the total for the meet to 11.

Last summer, 18 horses were euthanized, and 14 of those were the result of injuries incurred on the old dirt track. Eight of those 14 were injured during races.

“The track did everything we hoped it would do and a little more,” track President Joe Harper said. He added that a key thing was that so many trainers kept their horses here throughout the meet, which hadn’t been the case in recent years.

“Zero breakdowns would have been nice, but this big a reduction is tremendous,” he said.

Harper said that data on the new track would be studied and it may be tweaked a bit, but he pretty much ruled out watering it. He said he had been advised not to put water on Polytrack.

Another issue regarding the new track was its speed. Generally, times were two to three seconds slower than they were on the old dirt track. Longshot Student Council’s winning time of 2:07.29 for the Pacific Classic on Aug. 19 was nearly six seconds slower than the year before and the slowest winning time in the 17-year history of Del Mar’s signature event.

Harper said speed was a concern, but added, “We would not want to do anything that would compromise safety.”

Opinions about the Polytrack varied, usually depending on how a horse fared.

On opening day, Walsh had the winner in the third division of the featured Oceanside Stakes and at the time raved about the track and said synthetic tracks “will revive racing in California.” She said the same thing after winning with Georgie Boy Wednesday, and added, “They might have to do a little this and that.”

Two youngsters, Michael Baze, 20, and Joe Talamo, 17, who finished one-two in the jockey standings at Hollywood Park, did likewise at Del Mar. Baze, who won the first and last races of the meet, had 50 wins. Talamo had 37.

Baze and Talamo may be hard-pressed to repeat their one-two feat at the Oak Tree meet, which begins Sept. 26 at Santa Anita. Baze will miss six days of Oak Tree to serve suspensions received in recent weeks at Del Mar, and Talamo will miss three days. Baze received two three-day suspensions for causing interference and Talamo received one three-day suspension.

Doug O’Neill defended his Del Mar training title with 23 wins. Runner-up Jeff Mullins had 19.

The meet’s final total handle was $601,453,672, second highest in Del Mar history.

larry.stewart@latimes.com

--

FAIRPLEX

Southland horse racing now turns to the L.A. County Fairgrounds. Some facts on this year’s meet:

* When: Friday through Sept. 24 (dark on Tuesdays).

* Where: Fairplex Park in Pomona.

* Post time: 1 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; noon Friday-Sunday.

* On the Web: fairplex.com/fp/HorseRacing.