Cave Rock sets stakes record, wins Del Mar Futurity
Heavy favorite Cave Rock showed blazing speed throughout his race Sunday at Del Mar, simply proving himself untouchable against eight rivals in the 75th edition of the Grade 1, $302,000 Del Mar Futurity.
The son of the late champion Arrogate sped seven furlongs in 1:20.99 to establish a stakes record in the headliner on closing afternoon of the 31-day summers season at Del Mar. His time eclipsed the 1:21.29 mark established by juvenile champion Declan’s Moon in 2004.
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Juan Hernandez, the meet’s leading rider, was aboard Cave Rock as they pulled away by 5 1/4 lengths at the end of Del Mar’s top race for 2-year-olds.
“He broke a step slow, but then he got right in gear and made the running,” Hernandez said. “I tried to slow him down some, but he wasn’t having it. So I just let him go on and do his thing. When we hit the quarter pole, I asked him, and he changed leads and took off. He just wanted to go. He’s something.”
The victory was yet another tour de force for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who won his 16th Del Mar Futurity.
Havnameltdown, another Baffert runner, finished second for Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, the three men who also own Cave Rock. The runner-up had 4 1/4 lengths Skinner, who is owned by C R K Stable.
The winner, who went off at 2-5, paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10 across the board. Havnameltdown returned $4.20 and $3.40. Skinner paid $4.80 to show.
Cave Rock collected a winner’s share of $180,000. He had won his only other start, a straight maiden affair at Del Mar on Aug. 13, and sports a bankroll of $228,000.
Havnameltdown earned $60,000 for running second in the dash, meaning the trio of owners picked up a total of $240,000 for their share of the race’s purse.
Cave Rock cut out wicked splits in the heat of 21.56, 43.65 and 1:08.55 en route to his record final time.
The victory was the 12th of the meet for Baffert with a 2-year-old, 10 of them in maiden special-weight races and two in stakes.
Baffert wound up tying trainer Phil D’Amato for most wins at the meet with 19. It was his eighth training title at Del Mar, but his first since 2003.