Del Mar: Mullins sending young stablemates separate ways

Shigeki Kikkawa

Gabriel Charles will likely run in the Del Mar Futurity, while stablemate Dry Summer will be pointed toward the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The inaugural running of the $100,000 Oak Tree Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Wednesday comes at the perfect time for owners Sam Britt and Michael House and trainer Jeff Mullins.

This year at Del Mar, they have won maiden races with the highly promising juveniles Dry Summer and Gabriel Charles. In past years, both would likely have started in Wednesday’s $300,000 Del Mar Futurity. This year, they are being split up. Dry Summer is bound for the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf, which is run over a mile.

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The decision was an easy one, Mullins said on Friday.

“Gabriel Charles is handling this track amazingly,” he said of Del Mar’s Polytrack synthetic surface. “I’m not sure [Dry Summer] handles the track as well.”

Mullins said that Dry Summer could be better suited to a mile race at this point of the season. “He’s got more of a settle-and-make-one-run kind of style,” he said. “The other horse likes to be involved.”

Gabriel Charles is part of a projected field of nine for the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, which is run over seven furlongs. The race offers a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, provided the winner is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program.

The Del Mar Futurity field is led by Know More, who won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 5 in his career debut.

Other candidates are Scherer Magic, who won the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile Championship on July 14, and Caballo del Cielo, Capo Bastone, Pure Loyalty, Rolling Fog, Switch to the Lead, and Yankee Rebel.

Switch to the Lead, a filly, was third in the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 8.