Fasig-Tipton Futurity top two pointing to Best Pal Stakes
Big City Lights and Bochombo, the first two finishers of the $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Futurity on June 20 at Santa Anita, may meet again in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs on Aug. 7 at Del Mar.
Big City Lights, owned by William Peeples, won the Fasig-Tipton Futurity by 7 1/4 lengths in his stakes debut. Unbeaten in two starts, Big City Lights is trained by Luis Mendez.
Bochombo was purchased for $150,000 by Tom Kagele and Gary Barber at the Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita 2-year-olds in training sale on June 23 and was recently transferred to trainer Peter Miller. Bochombo, by Street Boss, was trained by Mendez before the sale.
“We’re going to try to make the Best Pal,” Kagele said Sunday. “It looks like he came out of the race so well.”
Mendez won a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at five furlongs on Sunday with the Street Boss colt Olympic Legend. Ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr., Olympic Legend ($23.80) led throughout, finishing a length in front of 1-2 favorite Messier, a first-time starter trained by Bob Baffert.
C Z Rocket, second in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland for Kagele and partners Barber and Madaket Stable, is bound for the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs on July 31 at Del Mar, Kagele said. The winner of the $300,000 Bing Crosby receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.