Bob Hope Stakes: Maiden winners step up while McKinzie Street moves down

The California 2-year-old division gets a reset Sunday at Del Mar, where a pair of impressive maiden winners move up in class to face an established stakes-placed colt who is moving down.

Bullard and Kalea Bay meet Grade 1-placed McKinzie Street in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint that does not include Breeders’ Cup Juvenile one-two finishers Citizen Bull and Gaming. They are in light training at Santa Anita with Bob Baffert, who said Citizen Bull is done for the year and Gaming is “possible” for the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 14.

Replenishments to the 2-year-old division may emerge from the Bob Hope, a race Baffert has won seven of the last nine years. He entered a pair for Sunday – Kalea Bay, a runaway maiden winner third time out, and Madaket Road, a first-time starter who was cross-entered, and on the also-eligible list, in a Churchill Downs maiden race on Saturday.

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The horse to beat in the Bob Hope might be Bullard, a Michael McCarthy-trained Gun Runner colt making his second career start following an impressive debut victory Sept. 1 at Del Mar. McCarthy was not surprised Bullard won, but admitted he was surprised at how he won.

“I was expecting him to run well,” McCarthy said. “I wasn’t expecting him to be [many] lengths out of it at the top of the lane.”

Racing six furlongs under Umberto Rispoli, Bullard trailed early. It puzzled McCarthy, who believed Bullard had some speed.

“He broke well, he just kind of found himself back there,” McCarthy said.

Bullard picked up steam slicing through traffic on the turn, took aim at the pacesetter, and ran past while on his wrong lead.

As it turns out, Bullard beat a good field. Runner-up Kalea Bay won his next start by more than eight lengths. Three others have won maiden races in subsequent starts.

McCarthy is bullish on Bullard.

“I think he is, hopefully, good enough to make some noise in some of the 3-year-old races over the winter in Southern California,” he said. “He certainly acts like it.”

The colt’s inexperience is not an issue, eight of the last 10 Bob Hope winners were moving up from maiden races.

The challenge for Bullard is catching the colt he defeated first out. Kalea Bay looked home free under Juan Hernandez and was merely coasting in deep stretch when Bullard blew past. Four weeks later, Kalea Bay drilled maidens. He ran to his pedigree.

“Authentics, they’re fast,” Baffert said. “They seem to be need-the-lead types.”

Kalea Bay is quick. Baffert also has Madaket Road, who blazed five furlongs from the gate in 58 seconds on Nov. 9 at Santa Anita in company with $3.2 million yearling Barnes. Madaket Road would be the first runner to make his career debut in the Bob Hope, which is being run at Del Mar for the 11th time.

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McKinzie Street won his debut in July at Del Mar, then jumped directly to a Grade 1. He finished second in the Del Mar Futurity and then third in the American Pharoah at 1 1/16 miles. McKinzie Street shortens in distance and drops in class Sunday. Kazushi Kimura rides McKinzie Street for trainer Tim Yakteen.

Others in the Bob Hope field include Maximus, runaway winner of a restricted maiden race, and Dr Ruben M, who shortens up after winning a maiden race at one mile.

◗ Race 6, a dirt mile for maiden 2-year-olds, may influence the division. Last-out route runner-up Rank is sitting on a win for trainer Doug O’Neill. His main rival is Baffert-trained Mellencamp, sprint runner-up first out.

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