Del Mar 2024: Gaming gives Bob Baffert 18th Futurity win
Debut winner Gaming provided trainer Bob Baffert with his record-extending 18th win in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity going seven furlongs Sunday at Del Mar.
The colt by Game Winner also supplied a fruitful return to California for top jockey Flavien Prat, who set the meet records for stakes and graded-stakes wins at Saratoga before flying in to win his second consecutive Futurity.
Gaming (7-2), who aired gate to wire in his unveiling when going 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 11, this time saved ground on the rail while tracking Grade 3-winning stablemate Getaway Car (9-5) through fractions of 21.85 and 44.35 seconds for the opening half-mile.
“Bob Baffert told me just to break, and don’t rush him,” Prat told FanDuel TV. “I thought there would be enough pace. He jumped well. I didn’t rush him, and he was driving well all the way around, and after that on his own, he just gently got himself going. ... I thought he was full of energy, and he made a good run turning for home.”
As the leader tired entering the stretch, Gaming took over through three-quarters of a mile in 1:09.71 and comfortably held off McKinzie Street (6-1) by 1 3/4 lengths to improve to 2-for-2 for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman
Gaming, who won with a final time of 1:23.02, returned $9.80 as the 7-2 third choice in a seven-horse field. McKinzie Street, a debut winner for trainer Tim Yakteen ridden by Kazushi Kimura, was followed by the bet-down favorite Citizen Bull (6-5) in third, also for Baffert. Getaway Car rounded out a $164.70 superfecta for $1.
Baffert has won the last four runnings of the Del Mar Futurity.
The partnership of Pegram, Watson and Weitman also won the race with Lookin At Lucky in 2009, Drill in 2011 and Cave Rock in 2022. Pegram won it as the sole owner of Icecoldbeeratreds in 2002. All four wins came with Baffert training.
Prat also won the race in 2020 on Dr. Schivel and last year with Prince of Monaco.
The Del Mar Futurity has produced seven Kentucky Derby winners since its inception in 1948. Nyquist, who won the Futurity in 2015 and the Derby in 2016, was the most recent.