Collusion Illusion makes it 2-for-2 in Best Pal
Collusion Illusion used the overland route to overcome a slow start and spring the upset in the $200,000 Best Pal Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds at Del Mar, which was depleted by the scratch of morning-line favorite Schrodinger.
Collusion Illusion appeared to break cleanly enough under Joe Talamo but was simply slow to get into gear, quickly spotting leaders Thanks Mr. Eidson and Raging Whiskey multiple lengths.
With Raging Whiskey pressing along the inside, Thanks Mr. Eidson carved fractions of 22.13 and :45.28 with a well-back Collusion Illusion setting sights on the leaders while racing at least four wide. Thanks Mr. Eidson continued on the lead into the top of the stretch before finally tiring, and leading the pack of closers came Collusion Illusion. He would cross the wire 1 1/4-lengths in front.
Wrecking Crew, who had an even worse start than Collusion Illusion, rallied for second while odds-on favorite Fore Left settled for third after pressing the pace. It wasn't to be for Wrecking Crew.
An $850,000 son of Sky Kingdom, Wrecking Crew appeared to break the gate well enough, but after a couple of jumps looked to rear up slightly under Mike Smith, losing momentum and any hope for winning. He would go on to circle the field and surge past Fore Left for a non-threatening second.
Owned by Agnew Schneider or Xitco Et Al, Collusion Illusion posted a winning time of 1:11.34 for six furlongs and paid $17.40 to win.
Collusion Illusion, who was a $300,000 2-year-old purchase at auction, earned his diploma on debut by a half-length at odds of 5-1 at Del Mar July 21.
"It's nice when you give a fair a chunk of money for a horse that they turn out," said winning trainer Mark Glatt. "And so far he has."
The Del Mar Futurity (G1) on closing day Sept. 2 is the next step in the local 2-year-old series, but Glatt was non-committal.
"This race came up a little bit quick, I usually like to give a horse more time after his debut, but he’s such a classy horse and he never missed a bite of grain," Glatt said. "I thought about running him back in the Futurity but who knows what will happen between now and September and he was ready to run now. I wouldn’t rule out the Futurity. That might be a little too aggressive with him, but we’ll keep it as an option.”
Smith had no explanation for the poor start by Wrecking Crew.
"I don’t know what happened," Smith said. "He was ready for it (the break). And then he just took a left on me. I don’t know if he saw the (No.) 2 horse, or what. And I don’t want to take anything away from the winner, but I sure would have like to have seen what would have happened (if he had broken properly).
Schrodinger, who was the 2-1 morning line favorite based off his smashing debut win June 30 at Los Alamitos for Simon Callaghan, was reportedly scratched because of a "minor virus."