Del Mar roundup: Prince of Monaco wins Futurity for Baffert
Prince of Monaco delivered as the 1-9 favorite in Sunday's Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity for trainer Bob Baffert at Del Mar.
Breaking from the rail under Flavien Prat, Prince of Monaco stalked pace-setting stablemate Mirahmadi (15-1) through fractions of 22.18 and 44.75 seconds for the opening half mile. Prince of Monaco then drew on even terms at the top of the stretch and outran his game stablemate to the wire for the popular victory.
The winning time for seven furlongs on a "fast" track was 1:22.65. Mirahmadi was followed across the wire by Next Level (28-1) with Raging Torrent rounding out the superfecta (10-1).
“He broke well and I thought I was going to go to the lead," Prat said of his winning ride. "But other horses went for it, so we waited. On the turn, he made his move and we made the lead. His teammate (stablemate Mirahmadi) was trying hard. But I think my horse was just waiting for something to come up to him. That didn’t happen. Can he run on? We won’t know until it happens, but he’s done everything right so far."
Added Jimmy Barnes, Baffert's assistant: “It was the right kind of trip we were looking for. We weren’t sure about Mirahmadi, where he was going to be placed in the race, but he left there running. Prat just got comfortable on the inside and when he needed to get to the outside he did and he accelerated. He’s pretty push button, pretty straight forward. I’m very proud of both of them.”
Prince of Monaco won his debut on July 9 at Los Alamitos by eight lengths and returned to win the Best Pal (G3) by 4 1/4 lengths at Del Mar on Aug. 13. A $950,000 auction purchase last year at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, Prince of Monaco is owned by an extensive ownership group that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket.
Endlessly leads a McCarthy exacta in Juvenile Turf
Endlessly earned his first stakes win and improved to 2-for-2 for trainer Michael McCarthy when taking Sunday's $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf.
Sent off the 5-2 second choice, Endlessly settled off the pace before making an early three-wide move under Del Mar leading rider Juan Hernandez on the second turn to draw into contention. Endlessly then reached even-money favorite Boltage entering the stretch and kicked clear for the win.
Endlessly completed one mile on firm turf in 1:35.28 following fractions of 22.71, 46.61 and 1:11.41. Lord Bullington (9-1), also trained by McCarthy, came on to be second. Boltage was third followed by Andreadytorumble.
“The horse had drawn a little bit outside today and I told Juan (Hernandez) just go ahead and bounce out of there and hopefully not get yourself stuck too far out in the middle of the racetrack around the first turn," McCarthy said.
"The horse was attentive to him and he put himself in a great spot. He looked like he was always traveling comfortably," the trainer added. "It did look like Juan took it to him a little early. It just seemed like he couldn’t wait any longer and he was able to finish off nicely.”
By Oscar Performance, Endlessly is a homebred for Amerman Racing. He beat maidens going a mile on turf at Del Mar in his only previous start on July 30.