INGLEWOOD, Calif. − There is a lot on trainer David Hofmans’s shoulders these days, most notably a sling he wears because of a fractured right scapula he suffered courtesy of some roughhousing with his 11-year-old grandson, Cody.

“My grandkids took me out,” Hofmans said jokingly at his Hollywood Park barn.

DEL MAR, Calif. – J P’s Gusto is by Successful Appeal and out of a mare by Caller I.D., not exactly a pedigree that suggests distance racing would be his forte. But the manner in which he won the Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day Wednesday gives his trainer, David Hofmans, the confidence that J P’s Gusto can stretch out, at least to 1 1/16 miles, the distance of his next scheduled race, the Norfolk Stakes on Oct. 2 during the Oak Tree meeting at Hollywood Park.

DEL MAR, Calif. - In his best race yet, J P’s Gusto turned the Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on Wednesday into a one-horse show, romping by 4 1/2 lengths to record his fourth straight victory and securely stamp himself as the best 2-year-old male in California.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trying to beat J P’s Gusto, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has found out, is difficult with just one bullet. So when the Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity is run on Wednesday’s closing-day card here, Hollendorfer will put a couple of rounds in the chamber, hoping either Indian Winter or Western Mood can knock off the pro-tem leader of the 2-year-old division in California.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - J P's Gusto is proving impossible to beat in sprint stakes for 2-year-olds in Southern California this summer.

Sunday, J P's Gusto won his third consecutive stakes in the $150,000 Best Pal Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs, a prep to the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity over seven furlongs Sept. 8.