Bound to Bet makes turf debut in Thursday allowance
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bound to Bet has perhaps the strangest race record of any runner at the Del Mar summer meeting.
Bound to Bet, who starts in an allowance race for California-breds at five furlongs on turf on Thursday, has won 4 of 7 starts, with all the wins in mixed-breed races at 1,000 yards for Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos since last September.
In his lone start in a race for Thoroughbreds-only, Bound to Bet was sixth in an allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs at the daytime Thoroughbred meeting last December.
“He’s officially a maiden, but not a maiden,” trainer Brian Koriner said.
Bound to Bet was bred and is owned by Ed Allred, who owns Los Alamitos. Thursday’s race will be Bound to Bet’s first start for Koriner. In previous starts, Bound to Bet was trained by James Glenn Jr., who has a stable consisting primarily of Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos.
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Bound to Bet was third in an allowance race at 1,000 yards on July 18 at Los Alamitos and joined Koriner’s stable days later. Bound to Bet had four workouts for Koriner through August.
“I’ve had him awhile,” Koriner said. “They thought he might want to go farther.”
Thursday’s race will be Bound to Bet’s turf debut. Bound to Bet has won by disputing the pace, or racing as a stalker. Koriner wondered on Sunday if the 4-year-old gelding may have a future in longer turf sprints this fall at Santa Anita.
“I don’t know if five-eighths is the answer,” Koriner said. “He seems like a nice horse. He seems like he want six or 6 1/2 furlongs.”
Bound to Bet is part of a full field of eight in the eighth of nine races, the first of five days of racing on the final week of the Del Mar summer meeting that concludes on Labor Day. The Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos begins Sept. 10.
Thursday’s allowance race is limited to eight runners since the temporary turf rails are set 30 feet from the permanent position. The race has an also-eligible list with four entries.
The allowance race will be the Southern California debut of Proof He Rides, a 3-year-old gelding who won his lone start in a maiden race for California-breds at five furlongs on turf at Golden Gate Fields on July 24 when trained by Ellen Jackson.
Proof He Rides closed from fourth in a field of seven. The gelding joined trainer Dan Blacker’s stable shortly after that race.
“He seems pretty talented,” Blacker said. “The previous trainer did a good job.”
Bound to Bet and Proof He Rides may be in pursuit of runners such as Austin’s Boy or Riding With Dino, who have shown speed in recent starts. Riding With Dino was third in an allowance race on turf on Aug. 1 in his first start since November 2019.
Star Racer, second in the same Aug. 1 race in his first start since February, rates a threat from slightly off the pace as does Castle, if he can draw into the field from the also-eligible list.