Gimme Da Lute will be hard to deny in El Cajon
DEL MAR, Calif. – The second-best 3-year-old in trainer Bob Baffert’s stable this summer is having a mighty fine campaign.
Gimme Da Lute was only the winner of a California-bred sprint stakes at the beginning of June. He has not lost in three starts since then and will be heavily favored to win his fourth consecutive stakes in Saturday’s $100,000 El Cajon Stakes for 3-year-olds at Del Mar.
The El Cajon is run at a mile on dirt. While the race has a modest purse, Baffert has big goals for Gimme Da Lute. He is using the El Cajon as a prep for the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 19.
“Hopefully, this will set him up for that,” Baffert said.
Baffert also entered Fame and Power, who won the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico.
Baffert will not attend the El Cajon. He left Southern California on Thursday for Saratoga to watch his Triple Crown star, American Pharoah, in Saturday’s Travers Stakes.
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El Cajon, Race 3
KEY CONTENDERS
Gimme Da Lute (Last 3 Beyers: 107-102-98)
◗ Gimme Da Lute is far from being just a California-bred sprinter, though he reverted to that division here Aug. 2, winning the seven-furlong Real Good Deal Stakes for 3-year-olds by 12 1/4 lengths under minimal urging from jockey Martin Garcia.
Garcia has won aboard Gimme Da Lute in five of the seven races he has ridden the colt. The current winning streak began with a half-length win in the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on June 7. Gimme Da Lute won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles by a nose over Prospect Park on July 4.
Iron Fist (Last 3 Beyers: 91-93-93)
◗ Iron Fist was a well-beaten third to American Pharoah in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity here last September. He did not run in another stakes until the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer on Aug. 1, finishing fourth at 5-2. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Iron Fist might have fared better if he had not raced on the inside.
“It was a funny racetrack that day, not to make an excuse, and he didn’t finish as well as he could have,” Hollendorfer said. “He’s got a good record. He’s been in the money in five of seven starts. He ran against American Pharoah and some good horses.”
Fame and Power (Last 3 Beyers: 74-87-98)
◗ Fame and Power was only sixth against older horses in an optional claimer at a mile July 31, but his springtime races make him competitive in this field. Fame and Power was third in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in April, won the Sir Barton at 1 1/16 miles on May 16, and was second at 1-2 after a slow start in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 13.