Intrepido impresses in maiden race
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DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert is not winning all the maiden races for 2-year-olds at Del Mar this summer.
Last Saturday, Intrepido, trained by Jeff Mullins, led throughout a maiden race for 2-year-olds at a mile to join the list of candidates for two-turn stakes this fall. Intrepido ($6.80) ran a mile in 1:35.71, earning a highly respectable Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
“We knew he was a two-turn horse all along,” Mullins said after the race.
Owned by Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures, Intrepido was a well-beaten fourth behind the Baffert-trained Brant in a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs on July 26. On Saturday, Intrepido finished 3 1/4 lengths in front of Plutarch, a well-bred first-time starter trained by Baffert. Another Baffert-trained runner, Provenance, finished third behind Intrepido as the 1-2 favorite, beaten four lengths.
Plutarch broke slowly and closed through the stretch to catch Provenance, who raced wide on the backstretch and turn. Plutarch and Provenance are by Into Mischief.
Baffert has won six maiden races for 2-year-olds at Del Mar since the meeting began on July 18 and swept two Grade 3 stakes for juveniles earlier this month.
Intrepido will be considered for the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes, a $300,000 race for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 4. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
“It’s a likely spot,” Mullins said of the American Pharoah. “We’ll know more after we breeze him a couple of times. It’s still up in the air.”
Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures also own Queen Maxima, a three-time stakes winner in turf sprints for females earlier this year. Trained by Mullins, Queen Maxima is expected to run in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap against males at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on Saturday.
The winner of the $150,000 Green Flash Handicap receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Turf Sprint on Nov. 1.
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