McCarthy finds the perfect spot to debut Brummell

For weeks, Saturday’s maiden race for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf at Del Mar has been a goal with the expensive yearling purchase Brummell.

The surface and distance are a better fit for Brummell than a main track sprint, trainer Michael McCarthy said on Thursday.

“He’s a nice, big beautiful horse,” McCarthy said. “He has kind of a high cruising speed more than a turn of foot. I didn’t think running him 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt would do him much good.

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“When the condition book came out, we put a soft circle around this. The distance is going to be his friend.”

Brummell was purchased for $1.05 million at Keeneland last September, and races for the partnership of CJ Stables, St. Elias Stable, Michael Talla, and West Point Thoroughbreds. Brummell, who is by Not This Time, is out of Foreign Affair, whose only win was a $40,000 claimer for maidens on turf at Belmont Park in 2017.

McCarthy has a strong duo in the maiden turf race, which drew a field of 14 but will be limited to 10 runners. McCarthy also starts Legitimate, who is by Authentic.

“He a little on the smaller side and handy,” McCarthy said. “His works on the dirt were average at best.”

In the last several years, McCarthy has won maiden races at a mile on turf during the summer at Del Mar with Rombauer, Endlessly, and Formidable Man, who all later were stakes winners. Rombauer is the best known of the group, having won the 2021 Preakness Stakes. Formidable Man won the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar last Saturday.

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