Free: How I'll play Del Mar on Saturday, Sept. 3

DEL MAR, Calif. – Two-year-olds are in the spotlight Saturday – fillies in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, colts and geldings in the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf. Both fields include playable maidens at double-digit odds, beginning with the Juvenile Turf that is race 6.

Big Score is the program favorite, Bowies Hero the third choice. Both scored sharp debut wins; the Lone Star smasher by Bowies Hero was particularly impressive. He is the horse to beat.

Bowies Hero is trained by Phil D’Amato, who also entered Billy Big, the winner of his U.S. debut and the second choice in the program. The third D’Amato entrant is Excavation, a longshot maiden trying to rebound from an Aug. 6 clunker.

“I ran six that day, and if you would have asked me which one would run lights-out, he was the horse,” D’Amato said of Excavation. “Everyone ran great, and he ran horribly.”

It was mystifying because Excavation ran well in his debut, trained well after, but went backward. While budding star Straight Fire won by more than 10 lengths, Excavation struggled home fifth by more than 20. The reason soon became apparent.

“When he was cooling out, his head was almost hitting the ground, and he was coughing,” D’Amato said.

Excavation was a sick horse. His temperature was high, and his blood was out of whack.

In a way, it was kind of a relief because D’Amato considered the Mineshaft colt to be among his top 2-year-old prospects. Day days after the debacle, D’Amato said, “Hopefully, he’ll be back at the end of the meet. We’ll get him right and run him long.”

Excavation recovered from the illness in time to run Saturday in a maiden race around two turns. However, the maiden race overfilled, with preference given to first-time starters. Excavation was excluded.

Instead, D’Amato entered Excavation in the only other available route – the Del Mar Juvenile Turf.

Excavation is a longshot reach, a maiden facing winners following a bad race. But the colt’s third-place debut was promising, and his second-start alibi was legitimate. Two turns should be ideal. On Saturday, Excavation could easily outrun his 12-1 morning line.

Race 9 is the Del Mar Debutante, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies won by the favorite in eight of the last 12 years. Champagne Room is the program favorite based on her win in the Grade 2 Sorrento.

Morganite, a potential pacesetter, won her debut over three next-out winners whom she meets again in the Debutante – Champagne Room, Noted and Quoted, and Holy Mosey. The next-out win by Noted and Quoted was a romp by more than nine lengths.

Noted and Quoted might be considered the horse to beat, while her Bob Baffert-trained stablemate American Cleopatra will keep Morganite honest on the lead.

The double-digit longshot is Union Strike, who is still a maiden. That is no big deal. Sweet Catomine was a maiden when she won the 2004 Del Mar Debutante, the same as Cindy’s Hero in 2000.

Besides, with a better trip first out, Union Strike might already have won.

Union Strike worked well and was widely touted into her debut. She started at 7-2; her odds were lower than American Cleopatra.

When the gates opened, Union Strike stood flatfooted. She was away last. She worked her way forward between rivals, split horses off the turn, and finished a clear second behind the perfect-trip, front-running winner, American Cleopatra.

One could argue that Union Strike might have won with a better start. Or maybe she was simply second-best. Either way, she is a tempting price play in the Debutante.

The attractive overlays Saturday at Del Mar are lightly raced maidens trying to graduate in stakes – Excavation at 12-1 in the sixth and Union Strike at 15-1 in the ninth.