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Horse racing notes: Bob Baffert can finish Del Mar meet on high notes

September 5, 2024

DEL MAR LEADERS

(Through Monday)

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 42

Antonio Fresu / 31

Umberto Rispoli / 27

Hector Berrios / 20

Kyle Frey / 17

Kazushi Kimura / 14

Trainers / Wins

Bob Baffert / 21

John Sadler / 17

Doug O’Neill / 17

Phil D’Amato / 16

Mark Glatt / 15

Peter Miller / 13

WEEKEND STAKES

DEL MAR

Friday

• $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes, California-bred 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs

Saturday

• $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Debutante, 2-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs

• $250,000, Grade II John C. Mabee Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1⅛ miles on turf

• $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf

Sunday

• $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Futurity, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs

• $100,000, Grade III Del Mar Juvenile Turf, 2-year-olds, 1 mile on turf

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

• $250,000, Grade II Golden State Derby, 3-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Bob Baffert can dominate closing weekend at Del Mar again when he runs multiple undefeated horses in Saturday’s Del Mar Debutante and Sunday’s Del Mar Futurity. The trainer has Nooni (Juan Hernandez riding) and Tenma (Kazushi Kimura) in a field of seven 2-year-old fillies in the Debutante, and Getaway Car (Hernandez), Gaming (Flavien Prat) and Citizen Bull (Mike Smith) among seven 2-year-olds in the Futurity. Baffert has won the Debutante 10 times and the Futurity 17 times, and has won both in the same year six times.

• Anisette (Umberto Rispoli), queen of the Del Mar turf course, faces a challenge in Saturday’s John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar. The field of seven fillies and mares includes Didia (Hector Berrios), winner of three Grade I and II races on the East Coast and seemingly stronger now than she was when she won her only meeting with Anisette, the two running 1-2 in the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita in October.

• Hernandez, with 11 more wins than Antonio Fresu as the final racing week of the meet began Thursday, is on his way to his third Del Mar summer title in a row. Baffert, four wins ahead of John Sadler and Doug O’Neill, can unseat Phil D’Amato, who won the summer title in 2023 and tied with Baffert in 2022.

• Mixto’s victory with jockey Kyle Frey at 22-1 odds in the Pacific Classic on Saturday received the lowest Equibase speed figure (108) in the 34 runnings of Del Mar’s million-dollar race. Mixto, who beat Full Serrano by a half-length, was clocked in 2:02.10 for 1¼ miles. The Pacific Classic was weakened by the scratch of Adare Manor and the absence of several of California’s top older males.

• Highland Falls’ convincing win with Prat aboard in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Sunday made the 4-year-old son of Curlin a threat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Highland Falls jumped into the Classic contenders rankings at No. 6, below Fierceness, City of Troy, Forever Young, Sierra Leone and Dornoch. The rankings are voted by racing writers, handicappers and officials and don’t influence which horses get into the race.

• Prat set a Saratoga record with 18 stakes wins, including 14 in graded stakes and seven in Grade I’s, at the Spa meet that ended on Labor Day. He’s got a good chance of earning the Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey in North America for the first time, ending Irad Ortiz Jr.’s streak at six years.

• The filly Rockin With Energy (Henry Reynoso Lopez riding) looks fastest among three fillies who will try to beat males in Saturday’s Golden State Derby for quarter horses at Los Alamitos.

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• Los Alamitos begins a short thoroughbred season Friday, Sept. 13, racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Sept. 22, with a 1 p.m. first post. The meet’s two stakes are minor, the Sept. 14 E.B. Johnston and the Sept. 21 Dark Mirage.

• Del Mar announced the schedule for its Oct. 31-Dec. 1 Bing Crosby Season. It will include the Nov. 1-2 Breeders’ Cup races, as well as two other Grade I’s, the Nov. 30 Hollywood Derby and Dec. 1 Matriarch Stakes. After the Thursday-to-Sunday opening week and early starts on the Breeders’ Cup days, racing will be Friday-to-Sunday with first post 12:30 p.m. In a blow to tradition, there will be no Southern California racing on Thanksgiving this year.

— Kevin Modesti

Orange County Register

News Details

Horse racing notes: Bob Baffert can finish Del Mar meet on high notes

DEL MAR LEADERS

WEEKEND STAKES

DOWN THE STRETCH

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