Del Mar: McKinzie Street leads 6 talented juveniles in Bob Hope

Graded-stakes action returns to Del Mar Sunday with the 44th running of the Grade 3 Bob Hope, a seven-furlong sprint on the main track for 2-year-olds. It’s the 11th running at Del Mar. The race used to be called the Hollywood Prevue when it was run at Hollywood Park.

A six-pack of talented juveniles are set to go in the race, one of whom ran in this summer’s Del Mar Futurity (G1).

McKinzie Street ran second that day, runner-up to Gaming but beat eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Citizen Bull by four lengths. A month later, in the American Pharoah (G1) at Santa Anita, McKinzie Street ran third behind Citizen Bull and Getaway Car. Still, trainer Tim Yakteen considered running in the Juvenile but decided otherwise.

“We were looking at going in the Bob Hope and then the Los Alamitos Futurity and I felt that trying to do all three would be a big ask. So we freshened him up a little bit. It’s worked well for us in the past and we’re hoping to have a similar result.”

McKinzie Street is cutting back from a mile and one sixteenth to seven furlongs, the same distance as the Futurity.

“I think that still has yet to be determined if he’s a one-turn horse or a two-turn horse,” Yakteen notes. “He’s run well for us going one turn. His Del Mar Futurity was a really good race.”

As to be expected the path to the winners circle goes through Bob Baffert. He brings two promising colts to the Bob Hope. Madaket Road will be making his career debut in the graded stakes

“I entered him in a maiden race last week and it didn’t fill,” Baffert says. “He’s been working well and I need to get races into these horses. It is a big jump but I think he’s a nice horse and at least I’ll get a race into him.”

The other Baffert horse is Kalea Bay, a chestnut colt by Authentic. After falling short in two maiden races at Del Mar this summer, he broke through with an 8 1/2-length victory at Santa Anita last out.

Trainer Michael McCarthy brings Bullard, a son of Gun Runner, to the Bob Hope. He broke his maiden at first asking at Del Mar back in September and beat Kalea Bay that day.

“I didn’t think we could get a one mile allowance race to go,” McCarthy says of his decision to step Bullard up to a Grade 3. “I wanted to take my time with him after he won. He’s trained well and he’s had a race over the track. Timing-wise I thought this fit nicely into his schedule.”

Maximus is another one worth a look. He broke his maiden at first asking by 9 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita last month for trainer Cesar DeAlba. He’s been training at Los Alamitos and has fired two bullet works leading up to the race.

The Bob Hope, named after the popular actor and comedian who was a pal of Bing Crosby’s and a regular at Del Mar in the early days, is the eighth race on Sunday’s nine-race card. Probable post time is 7 p.m. EDT.