DEL MAR – Vacare emerged from a line of six horses arrayed from the rail to the middle of the track in the deep stretch and produced a half-length victory in yesterday's $200,000, Grade II Palomar Handicap.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Vacare covered the 1 1/16 miles on turf in 1:40.64 and returned $5.20, $3.00 and $2.80 as the 8-5 favorite. Kris' Sis and Gotta Have Her finished in a dead heat for second.

Owned by Jon and Sarah Kelly of Rancho Santa Fe, Vacare won for the seventh time in 11 career starts, increased her earnings total to $990,456 and ended a two-race losing streak. The losses had come in Grade I events at Belmont Park and Saratoga in June and July against Ventura and Forever Together, both highly rated in the older turf female division.

In a conversation yesterday morning with trainer Christophe Clement, who remained back East, Nakatani was told that all was well with Vacare, a 5-year-old daughter of Lear Fan, and to ride with confidence.

“Which is what I did,” Nakatani said. “I was happy with the way the race unfolded. . . . These stakes races, they don't give anything away. You've got to work for them.

“But she did the work and we got it done.”

McCann's Mojave retired

McCann's Mojave, a California-bred of modest pedigree who stood the tests of time and distances to earn more than $1.5 million, has been retired at age 8, owner Mike Willman and trainer Steven Specht announced yesterday.

A week ago, McCann's Mojave was scratched from the Pacific Classic when some swelling was detected in the area of a tendon in the left front leg. Subsequent X-rays, the most recent on Friday, revealed a slight tear in the outer 10 percent of the tendon.

“We could still run him, but there's a slight chance it could rupture, so the decision was made to retire him,” Specht said. “The plan was only to race through the end of the year anyway. This just moves it up a little.”

A son of Memo-Joni U. Bar, McCann's Mojave compiled a career record of 12 wins from 35 starts with earnings of $1,513,565. He had victories at distances from 6 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles and stakes wins on turf, dirt and synthetic surfaces. The biggest were the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic in January of 2007 at Gulfstream Park and the $250,000 Cal Cup Classic at Santa Anita in November of 2005.

McCann's Mojave will stand stud at Rancho San Miguel near Paso Robles.

Closers

Garrett Gomez was excused from mounts in the sixth, seventh and eighth races yesterday because of illness. Joe Talamo notched a win replacing Gomez on Unusual Jane in the eighth. . . . Trainer Darrell Vienna agreed to pay an $8,500 fine for excess clenbuterol levels in two tests of Medici Code following races here last year. The second came after a victory in the La Jolla Handicap.