Desi Arnaz Stakes could provide rival for Alluring Star

DEL MAR, Calif. – The $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday at Del Mar could be a springboard to the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Starlet three weeks hence. The Starlet is the race in which Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Alluring Star will make her next start.

“She came out of the Breeders’ Cup really well,” trainer Bob Baffert said of Alluring Star, who worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds on Wednesday at Santa Anita.

The Arnaz, at seven furlongs, was expected to attract Dream Tree, Midnight Bisou, and Ms Bad Behavior, among others.

Cool Bobby eying 3-year-old campaign

The promising 2-year-old colt Cool Bobby, who beat a strong maiden field at Del Mar on Saturday going six furlongs, is unlikely to come back in the Los Alamitos Futurity and will instead be aimed for a winter-spring campaign with races like the Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby at the forefront, trainer Peter Eurton said.

“We’re going to sit back and draw up a plan for next year,” Eurton said of Cool Bobby, a son of Shanghai Bobby who cost $575,000 as a yearling. “I liked his race a lot. He had never been on this track. There were a lot of unknowns.”

Cool Bobby was beaten a neck in his debut at Santa Anita and had worked at Santa Anita in preparation for his race here.

◗ Trainer Matt Chew has entered the maidens Gem of a Marina, 3, and Topaz Time, 4, half-sisters who are both out of the Tribal Rule mare Tribal Gem, in race 4 on Thursday.

Gem of a Marina is making her debut. Topaz Time has raced four times, but is making her first start in 13 months and her first since moving to Chew’s barn.

◗ Del Mar is the official local drop site for the San Diego-area Marine Toys for Tots campaign, which provides presents for local children. The drop boxes for unwrapped toys are at both the stretch run and clubhouse admission gates.