Del Mar Futurity winds up with six horses

The $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on Monday will have one of its smallest field in years.

Friday, six runners were entered – Chasing Aces, Dynamic Ruler, Klimt, Midnight Pleasure, Straight Fire, and Vegas Itch. Dynamic Ruler and Vegas Itch will be longshots and were late additions to the field.

Klimt won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 13, but Straight Fire, a maiden race winner by 10 1/2 lengths in his second start on Aug. 6, is expected to be favored.

The race had four runners in 2004, the smallest field since the race was first run in 1948. Declan’s Moon won the Del Mar Futurity in 2004 and was the champion 2-year-old male that year. Since then, fields have ranged from six runners last year to 13 in 2007.

In the last week, two probable runners were withdrawn from consideration. Green With Eddie, who won the Graduation Stakes on Aug. 3, was taken out of training with an ankle injury. Big League, second in the Best Pal, will run in the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile at Los Alamitos on Sept. 18, trainer Peter Miller said.