Best Pal possible match race between Getaway Car, Mischief River
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They were both sharp debut winners earlier this summer, one unexpectedly on a low-key Saturday, the other meeting lofty expectations in a high-profile setting three weeks later.
The maiden race wins by Mischief River on June 29 at Los Alamitos and Getaway Car on July 20 at Del Mar have led to appearances in Sunday’s Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at six furlongs at Del Mar.
For Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, Getaway Car is the latest in a seemingly endless parade of exciting juveniles. Baffert has won the Best Pal Stakes 10 times, including the last two runnings.
Getaway Car led throughout a maiden race at five furlongs on July 20, pulling clear through the final furlong to win by 3 1/4 lengths under jockey Juan Hernandez.
“He showed me a lot of talent,” Hernandez recalled Friday. “He broke out of the gate like a rocket. Nobody went with me. That race, he did it on his own. I never asked him to run.”
Getaway Car, owned by a large partnership that includes Determined Stables, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing, drew the outside post in a field of five in the $150,000 Best Pal Stakes and will be favored. Hernandez expects the colt to have a forward position from the start to take advantage of a track kind to front-runners.
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“I’ll try to have a good break and see how the race plays,” he said. “We’ll try to be on the lead or right there since the track is speed-favoring.”
Mischief River is the first runner in a stakes at Del Mar for Los Alamitos-based James Glenn Jr., who also has a stable of Quarter Horses. Glenn, 59, has had significant success in lucrative Quarter Horse stakes, but never had a starter in a graded stakes for Thoroughbreds.
Mischief River, owned by Chris Galpin’s Bow River Ranch, won his debut at 7-1. He stalked the early pace in a five-furlong race before taking the lead early in the long stretch. Mischief River won by 1 1/2 lengths under Cesar Ortega, who has the mount Sunday.
Mischief River has been shipped to Del Mar for two workouts in recent weeks, including a quick five furlongs in 58.60 seconds on Aug. 2.
“That track is pretty deep,” Glenn said. “To run on it I think you need to have some works over it.
“I hauled him down there and let him get a feel of the track. You couldn’t ask for him to train up to the race any better.”
Glenn expects Mischief River to be close to Getaway Car.
“The way Del Mar is playing, not much is coming from behind,” he said. “We’ll be heads-up with Baffert or he’ll go and we’ll be not too far from the lead. It depends on the break.”
Wins by the other three runners would be a surprise. Ivan the Great was a well-beaten third in the Bashford Manor Stakes on June 30 at Churchill Downs for trainer Doug O’Neill. Tiz Happy, also trained by O’Neill, won his debut in a five-furlong maiden race on turf on June 13 at Santa Anita.
The unbeaten filly White Sands is quick enough to contend for the lead, if she starts. She also was entered in Sunday’s Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes for fillies.
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