Weston work will determine Del Mar Futurity status
Weston, the undefeated winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 9, will have a pre-dawn workout on Friday that will determine whether he starts in the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7.
“If he works good, we’re going to go for the futurity,” trainer and co-owner Ryan Hanson said on Wednesday. “There is no pressure to run. He has to come back good.”
The $250,000 Del Mar Futurity is run at seven furlongs and is the championship race for 2-year-old males at the summer meeting.
Weston won his debut at Santa Anita in a 21-1 upset in a five-furlong maiden race on June 21 and won the Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs by a neck over Girther. Since the Best Pal, Weston has worked once – a half-mile in 46.40 seconds on Aug. 18, the fastest of 27 works at the distance that morning.
:: DRF's Del Mar headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more
Hanson, who co-owns Weston with Chris Drakos, was reluctant to commit to the Del Mar Futurity immediately after the Best Pal Stakes, but was thinking more favorably about a start on Wednesday.
“You hate to make decisions until you see how they come out of the race and see how they train up to the next race,” he said. “He’s trained like he has before the Best Pal.”
The Del Mar Futurity field is expected to include Dr. Schivel and Spielberg, the first two finishers of a fast maiden race on Aug. 9. Spielberg is trained by Bob Baffert, who said on Wednesday that Freedom Fighter, a maiden race winner on Aug. 1, would not start.
The Del Mar Futurity is one of two Grade 1 races remaining at the summer meeting. The Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs will be run on Sept. 6. The top candidates are My Girl Red, who won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 7, and Princess Noor, a sharp maiden race winner last Saturday.
Overall, there are seven stakes on the final four programs of the meeting, from Sept. 4-7.
This weekend, however, is much quieter, with two stakes – the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on Saturday and the $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes for statebred 2-year-old fillies on Sunday. The winner of the $150,000 O’Brien Stakes receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7.