Del Mar Debutante to have short field

DEL MAR, Calif. – The Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Saturday is likely to have its smallest field in nearly two decades.

As of Wednesday morning, hours before post positions were to be drawn, the race had five expected starters – Bellafina, Boujie’s Girl, Brill, Mother Mother, and Watch Me Burn. The race has had five starters four times since it was first run in 1951, most recently in 2000 and 2001. There have been seven runners in each of the last two years.

Bob Baffert said on Wednesday that he will start only Mother Mother in the Debutante, even though he has won maiden races in recent weeks with other 2-year-old fillies.

Del Mar May, second to Bellafina in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at six furlongs on Aug. 5, will not run in the Debutante and may start in a maiden race or in a stakes outside of California, trainer Richard Baltas said on Wednesday.

The $300,000 Debutante at seven furlongs will be the first start in a stakes for Brill, Mother Mother, and Watch Me Burn. Boujie’s Girl was third behind Bellafina in the Sorrento.

Watch Me Burn, supplemented to the Debutante for $10,000 on Wednesday, has won twice at the meeting – in a $50,000 claimer for maidens on July 19 and a starter allowance at six furlongs on Aug. 10.

Bellafina is trained by Simon Callaghan, who won the 2017 Debutante with Moonshine Memories.

Monday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity has seven candidates led by Instagrand, the winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs by 10 1/4 lengths on Aug. 11. Other probable runners are Roadster, Rowayton, Savagery, Sigalert, Sparky Ville, and Spin Lightning.

On Wednesday, Roadster, a maiden-race winner in his debut on July 29 for Baffert, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80, according to track clockers. Sparky Ville, second in the Best Pal Stakes, worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds.