Baffert-trained Eight Rings looms large in Del Mar Futurity
A field of eight was entered for Monday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity.
The 72nd running of the traditional closing day feature will, as is normal in recent years, have a Bob Baffert-trained favorite as three conditioners entered two horses apiece accounting for three-quarters of the field.
Baffert, seeking his 15th Futurity victory, will be represented primarily by Eight Rings, a $520,000 purchase who won his local debut by 6 1/4 lengths. The victory registered a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, ranking second-best in the current 2-year-old crop.
“You get a horse that runs like that with the numbers he had the first race, it gets you pretty excited as you well can imagine,” said Jack Wolf, whose Starlight Racing campaigns Eight Rings, a son of Empire Maker, along with SF Racing, Madaket Stables, Frederick Hertich III, John D. Fielding and Golconda Stables.
Garth, second in a maiden special weight flight, is Baffert's other contender, also making his second career start. Doug O’Neill, looking for a third Futurity win, will saddle Defense Wins and Fore Left, who have a combined four starts and the latter a stakes victory in Belmont Park's Tremont earlier this year. Peter Miller, aiming for a Futurity breakthrough, will send out Nucky and Wrecking Crew, whose experience is four and two races, respectively.
Defense Wins, a Kentucky-bred son of Flatter, was a $175,000 purchase at auction in Florida in March and made his racing debut on July 21 here going five furlongs in a field of six. Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, the gray colt was never far off the pace and made up two lengths in the stretch to lose by a half-length to Collusion Illusion.
Collusion Illusion would go on to win the Graduation Stakes 12 days later but trainer Mark Glatt has chosen to pass up the Futurity in favor of waiting for Santa Anita Park's American Pharoah (G1).
Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino is the majority owner of Defense Wins with a 25 percent interest. The San Diego-based Great Friends racing syndicate headed by sports radio host Scott Kaplan is also a part owner, among others.
As the majority owner, Pitino exercised his right to name the horse and chose a phrase that epitomizes his philosophy of the game. Defense Wins will run in Pitino’s RAP Racing Stable silks. It’s not known if Pitino will attend the race.