Second time the charm for Ginobili

DEL MAR, Calif. – The 2-year-old colt Ginobili left trainer Richard Baltas stunned when he finished a well-beaten fourth at 2-1 in a maiden special weight race at Los Alamitos on July 14.

“I didn’t think I could be that wrong about a horse,” Baltas said.

For Ginobili’s second start at Del Mar on Saturday, Baltas changed the colt’s bit. Instead of stalking the pace as he did in his debut, Ginobili took the lead at the start under jockey Florent Geroux and won the six-furlong race by 2 1/2 lengths in a 19-1 upset.

“He ran like I thought he would first time out,” Baltas said. “He didn’t fire.”

Race tactics may have played a role. Ginobili was more comfortable in front.

“I though the dirt [in his face] might have had something to do with it,” Baltas said of the colt’s debut.

Owned by the partnership of Slam Dunk Racing, Jerry McClanahan, Michael Nentwig, and Baltas, Ginobili is by Munnings and was purchased for $35,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale. The maiden race win could lead to a start in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity at seven furlongs on Sept. 2, though Baltas stopped well short of committing to that race on Sunday.

“It’s kind of quick back,” he said. “It’s something you have to give some thought.”