Del Mar: $3.55 million colt debuts Saturday for Baffert, Zedan

Hejazi, a 2-year-old Bernardini colt who commanded $3.55 million at auction earlier this year, is entered for his debut Saturday at Del Mar for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Amr Zedan. 

Hejazi was the highest-priced purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale in May. At the sale's under-tack show, he breezed a furlong in a swift 9.4 seconds.

Hejazi is out of the Medaglia D'Oro mare G Note, whose three previous foals all have won. He was bred in New York by Chester and Mary Broman. 

Debuting at 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt, Hejazi is among a field of eight entered in Saturday's fifth race. Hall of Famer Mike Smith has the mount. 

Hejazi has worked eight times since late June with the last four coming at Del Mar. In his two most recent drills, he has fired bullets from the gate: six furlongs in 1:12.8 on Aug. 3 and five furlongs in 59.0 seconds last Friday.

The partnership of Baffert and Zedan won the 2021 Kentucky Derby with Medina Spirit, but the colt was later disqualified after testing positive for the regulated medication betamethasone. In December, Medina Spirit died suddenly on the track following a workout at Santa Anita. A subsequent necrospy performed by the California Horse Racing Board did not determine a definitive cause of death, though acute heart failure was suggested.