Baffert send out Pretty N Cool and Enchanting Lady in Rancho Bernardo
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Photo:
Benoit Photo/Del Mar
Bob Baffert has only won the Rancho Bernardo Handicap twice.
A low total for the Hall of Fame trainer in a stakes here compared to the eight victories in the Best Pal Stakes (most recently with Klimt on Saturday) and 12 Del Mar Futurity triumphs.
So Baffert will look to win the Rancho Bernardo for the first time since Behaving Badly went back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 when he sends out Pretty N Cool and Enchanting Lady, 1-2 finishers in the CERF Stakes on July 20, in Wednesday’s Grade III $100,000 feature.
The Rancho Bernardo is 6 1/2 furlongs, a half-furlong longer than the CERF.
The field, from the rail out: Lost Bus (Fernando Perez), Tara’s Tango (Martin Garcia), Sensitively (Tyler Baze), Enchanting Lady (Rafael Bejarano), Pretty N Cool (Mike Smith), Coniah (Drayden Van Dyke) and Finest City (Kent Desormeaux).
JOCKEY RACE TIGHTENS UP; TRAINER’S A CLOSE ONE AS WELL
The absence of jockey standings leader Flavien Prat, away riding the Arlington Million Day card in Chicago, was duly noted and taken advantage of by pursuers Santiago Gonzalez and Rafael Bejarano on Saturday.
Gonzalez notched four wins, Bejarano three and Prat’s margin, once six over Gonzalez and nine over Bejarano, was reduced to one and three respectively.
Gonzalez’s victories came aboard County Lineman (1st, $6.00), Look Twice (6th, $10.80), Brainspin (9th, $21.60) and X S Heat (10th, $23.60). Bejarano scored a dead-heat victory with Te Rapa (3rd, $2.80) and with Seve’s Road (5th, $8.20) and Klimt (Best Pal Stakes, $4.00).
Prat returned Sunday morning from an Arlington venture that produced only a pair of fifth-place results in six assignments. He’s booked on mounts in eight races on the Del Mar card.
Prat starts the day with 21 wins, Gonzalez has 20 and four-time defending meet champion Bejarano 18.
Phil D’Amato, Bob Baffert and John Sadler all saddled one winner on Saturday. D’Amato has a two-win lead (11-9) over Baffert, Sadler and Mark Glatt.
CLOSERS – Selected works from 227 on dirt and 28 on turf officially timed Sunday morning: Dirt – Big Cazanova (3f, :35.80), Milton Freewater (4f, :48.80), Arrogate (5f, 1:01.60), Living The Life (5f, :57.80), Midnight Storm (5f, 1:01.40), Minster’sadventure (5f, 1:00.00), R Sunday Surprise (5f, 1:00.60), Toews On Ice (5f, 1:01.80), Drefong (6f, 1:12.00), Dortmund (7f, 1:24.60), Masochistic (7f, 1:25.00); Turf – Entrechat (4f, :49.40), Flamboyant (5f, 1:02.80), Justin Squared (5f, 1:00.40), Mokat (5f, 1:00.80), Obviously (5f, 1:00.60), Nancy From Nairobi (6f, 1:14.60), Stays In Vegas (6f, 1:13.80).
Source: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
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