Del Mar Derby next major goal for Soul Driver

DEL MAR, Calif. – Soul Driver enabled trainer Jeff Mullins to win the $116,000 Oceanside Stakes for the first time on Thursday’s opening day of the Del Mar summer meeting.

There is a bigger prize awaiting Soul Driver later this summer, the $250,000 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6, a race in which Mullins has an accomplished recent history. He won a division of the Del Mar Derby in 2013 with Gabriel Charles and was second with Battle of Hastings in 2009.

How Soul Driver gets to the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby has yet to be determined. There is a possibility for a start in the $150,000 La Jolla Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf Aug. 9. The energy Soul Driver shows in training in the coming weeks will be the determining factor.

“We’ll know in a few days when we get him back to the track,” Mullins said.

The Oceanside Stakes was the second consecutive win for Soul Driver, following a score in the minor Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita on June 20. In the Oceanside, jockey Mike Smith guided Soul Driver between runners through the final half-mile and caught a stubborn pacesetter in Forest Blue to win by a nose.

Soul Driver, a colt by Street Boss who races for the partnership of Bloom Racing Stable and Sol Kumin, has won 3 of 9 starts and $203,350.

“He went from getting a bad trip every time to getting a lucky trip in his last two runs,” Mullins said. “I think he’s just improving, period. He had some time off with a quarter crack. It may have been the best thing for him.”

Runner-up Forest Blue is a candidate for the Del Mar Derby, along with third-place finisher Royal Albert Hall, who closed from seventh in a field of 11.