Mandella confident in Medici on debut despite deep maiden field
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The 2-year-old Medici will start for the first time in what seems to be a deep maiden race at six furlongs at Del Mar on Sunday.
Medici, trained by Richard Mandella for owners and breeders Ramona and Perry Bass, has the credentials to win, provided he can beat two well-regarded runners trained by Bob Baffert in Buetane and Falcon Jet as well as three other rivals.
Mandella has seen enough from Medici in recent weeks to expect a winning performance.
“He can run,” Mandella said on Friday. “He’s a big good-looking horse. We haven’t asked him for his best and he’s done very well. We have high hopes.”
Medici is by Into Mischief, the nation’s leading sire by progeny earnings, and is out of Avenge, a four-time stakes winner who won consecutive runnings of the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in 2016 and 2017. Aveng also won a stakes for turf sprinters at Santa Anita.
Avenge is the dam of Defiance and Venganza, who both won their first starts and are part of Mandella’s current team. Venganza placed in three straight stakes on turf at Santa Anita earlier this year.
Despite a strong turf family, Medici “acts like he likes the dirt,” Mandella said. “We hope it works.”
Buetane, by Tiz the Law, was purchased for $1.15 million at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in-training in April. Beutane, one of nine seven-figure sale purchases at the four-day auction, is a half-brother to the stakes winner Let My People Go, the winner of a turf sprint in his last start at Churchill Downs on June 27.
Falcon Jet, a Justify colt bought for $750,000 as a yearling, is the first foal to race out of the four-time stakes winner Starship Bonita.
In Sunday’s race, Falcon Jet and Buetane have the inside two post positions, while Medici starts from post 3.
“They drew horrible,” Baffert said.
“Falcon Jet is probably a work or two away. I think Buetane is probably a little more advanced than the other horse. Falcon Jet will need the race.”
All six runners in the field are first-time starters. Trainer Peter Miller starts Cactus Charlie and Charlie’s Curlin, while Michael McCarthy has entered Stark Contrast.
In Saturday’s sixth race, a maiden race for 2-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs, Baffert and Mandella have the two leading contenders in Misstrial and Bourbon and Ginger.
Misstrail, by Constitution is quick, Baffert said.
“She’s doing well,” he said. “You don’t know [what they’ll do] until the gate comes open. She’s been working well and has speed.”
Bourbon and Ginger is “very quick,” Mandella said.
They start in a field of eight that also includes Umbralle, an Into Mischief filly out of Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017 and champion older female of 2018. Umbralle has had a steady pattern of workouts for trainer John Sadler in the last month, the latest of which was five furlongs from the gate in 1:00.40 at Del Mar on July 27.
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