Baffert sends out tough pair seeking 20th Del Mar Futurity win

DEL MAR, Calif. – The smallest Del Mar Futurity field in more than two decades will be run Sunday with a familiar theme – Bob Baffert.

Baffert trains two of the five runners entered in the Del Mar Futurity, a seven-furlong Grade 1 for 2-year-olds he won for the first time with Silver Charm in 1996. The next 30 years, the trainer dominated the race. His record win total in the Del Mar Futurity is up to 19, including the last five.

“Where have the times gone?” Baffert asked, before stating his intention. “I want to round off the number, I’m going for No. 20.”

He should get it with Hughes or Domus, who both won impressively last out. Hughes is 2 for 2 after a 7 3/4-length landslide in the Grade 3 Best Pal; Domus won his debut by more than five lengths. Both colts earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure.

The other three remaining Del Mar Futurity entrants are trained by Doug O’Neill. Phone Booth finished a distant second in the Best Pal; speedster High Pronto is up in class off a front-running maiden win; Dang Son shortens up and changes surface after upsetting a maiden turf mile.

The five-runner Del Mar Futurity is the smallest since 2004, when Declan’s Moon won a four-runner race. This year’s field would have been deeper, but plans shifted for several locals.

Inshallah, a 90 Beyer debut winner, will wait for the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race on Oct. 3 at Santa Anita; Take a Picture, maiden route winner, also will target the American Pharoah. Stakes-placed He Is No Lie runs in the Grade 3 Iroquois on Sept. 12 at Churchill Downs.

Icanthelpmyself, the 87 Beyer runner-up to Inshallah, has not worked since his Aug. 15 debut. Kennyten, a 92 Beyer debut winner and third after a slow start in the Best Pal, will skip the Futurity and wait for Santa Anita fall. Kennyten needed more time.

“He’s just a little flat, he’s just not quite himself,” trainer Vladimir Cerin said. “I’m going to wait until he is, maybe try him on the grass at Santa Anita.”

Kennyten trains daily at Del Mar, but his workout after the Best Pal sent a signal.

“He worked okay, 48 and change, but he just didn’t look to me like he was fully extending, so we just took it easy with him,” Cerin said. “He feels great now. I didn’t want to run a short horse.”

That leaves five in the Futurity, with Hughes favored under Juan Hernandez. “Hughes has been doing really well, he’s been growing down here,” Baffert said. “He covers a lot of ground. It looks like distance is not going to be a problem.”

Hughes benefited from a slow pace winning the six-furlong Best Pal, a race that produced just one of the last nine winners of the Del Mar Futurity. Eight others were up in class from maiden races, a pattern that bodes well for Domus. His debut was a runaway.

“I was surprised by him a little bit,” Baffert said. “He was working well, but he was very green in the stretch, looking around stuff. He’s a horse that’s been just improving.” Juan Hernandez sticks with Hughes; Domus will be ridden by Antonio Fresu.

Hughes and Domus drew favorably outside, in posts 4 and 5. The O’Neill runners – Phone Booth, High Pronto, and Dang Son – are stuck in posts 1 through 3 .

Phone Booth “is a big, good-looking son of a gun that acts like a two-turn horse,” O’Neill said. “What he’s done so far” – a debut win and stakes runner-up – “has been impressive, and hopefully going seven furlongs we can see him step forward, which he’s going to obviously have to do.”

Umberto Rispoli rides Phone Booth, who breaks from the rail and will rally from behind. Directly outside Phone Booth is High Pronto in post 2.

High Pronto “would be the fastest out of the gate of the three I have,” O’Neill said. “He’s got a couple races under his belt” – a maiden fourth and a maiden win – “he’s going to be forwardly placed, he’s going to keep an honest pace.” Kazushi Kimura rides High Pronto.

Dang Son was cross-entered in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf on Saturday, but scratched to start in the Del Mar Futurity. Dang Son’s second start was a turf-route maiden win.

“I think it was more the distance than it was the surface,” O’Neill cited as reason for Dang Son’s improvement. Although the cutback to seven furlongs is a challenge, O’Neill said field size is tempting. “I think seeing the five-horse field, we’re going to lean toward staying in the Futurity.”

The Del Mar Futurity is race 4 Sunday; the $125,000 Shared Belief for 3-year-olds on dirt is race 8; the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf featuring Ogle and Vanta is race 9.