Del Mar Futurity, Debutante draw over 400 nominees combined

The Grade I races that determine the meet champions in the 2-year-old divisions won’t be run until the last three days of the Del Mar meeting in September. But the preliminary paperwork has been done with 195 fillies nominated to the Del Mar Debutante on September 2 and 210 colts nominated for the Del Mar Futurity on Closing Day, September 4.

 

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Debutante seven times and the Futurity 13, had the most nominees with 24 for the Debutante and 36 for the Futurity. Richard Baltas (19), Jerry Hollendorfer (13) and Peter Miller (11) followed Baffert in Debutante nominees. Miller’s group includes Surrender Now, recent winner of the Landaluce Stakes at Santa Anita.

 

Baffert’s fellow Hall of Fame member Hollendorfer has 20 nominated to the Futurity with Doug O’Neill placing 15 and Miller 12 in nomination. Run Away, recent winner of the Santa Anita Juvenile for owner Kaleem Shah, is one of seven Futurity nominees for trainer Simon Callaghan.

 

Among Baffert’s bunch is Zulfikhar, a $750,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton sale in March at Gulfstream Park and an impressive debut winner on July 7 at Los Alamitos. Zulfikhar is a possibility for the Grade II $200,000 Best Pal Stakes on August 12.

 

CLOSERS – Last Friday there were an estimated 300 horses stabled at Del Mar. Monday morning, the number was up to around 1,300, according to Racing Secretary David Jerkens, with expectations of a peak of 1,900 … For the first time in many years, there will be no double-day draws conducted by the racing office.

The schedule: On Friday, entries will close and fields will be drawn for the following Wednesday card; after that, it’s Saturday for Thursday, Sunday for Friday, Wednesday for Saturday and Thursday for Sunday. “The advantage of drawing two days at the same time is that, if there’s a good flow of entries, you can move races around to suit both cards,” Jerkens said. “We felt this year, given the horse population and the recent Santa Anita experience (two days were canceled) it was best to take it one day at a time.

Royal F J is entered in Thursday’s first race for what will be the 100th career start for the 10-year-old gelded son of Royal Academy.

Selected works from 57 officially timed on the main track and 20 on the turf course Monday: Dirt – Majestic Heat (4f, :48.00), Pee Wee Reese (4f, :48.80), Run Away (4f, :48.40), The Lieutenant (5f, :59.00); Turf – Flamboyant (4f, :49.40 for Wickerr Stakes, July 23), Noted and Quoted (5f, 1:02.20 for San Clemente, July 23), He Will (6f, 1:16.80 for California Dreamin’, July 29), Sircat Sally (6f, 1:16.80 for San Clemente), Offshore (6f, 1:19.40 for La Jolla, August 6) and, Responsibleforlove (6f, 1:19.00 for CTT and TOC, August 16).

Source: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club