Princess Noor, My Girl Red lead field of six in Del Mar Debutante

A showdown between highly touted debut winner Princess Noor and Sorrento Stakes victor My Girl Red is anticipated for Sunday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Debutante, which annually determines the top 2-year-old filly of the meeting.

Princess Noor, a $1.3 million purchase in February by the Zedan Racing Stables of Amir Zedan of Lexington, Ky., and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, was a cruising 2 1/4-length winner in her first career start on Aug. 22. The daughter of Not This Time has been established as the 8-5 favorite on John Lies’ morning line.

My Girl Red, an Erich G. Brehm homebred daughter of Texas Red trained by J. Keith Desormeaux, set her career record at 2-0 with a wire-to-wire, 4 3/4-length victory as the odds-on choice in the Sorrento (G2). She is the morning line second choice at 3-1.

Baffert, who also has Illumination entered, will be seeking a record-extending ninth Debutante victory.

Trainer Doug O’Neill, who has 38 career stakes victories at Del Mar, will send out Get On the Bus, the Sorrento runner-up in her racing debut, in hopes of securing a first Debutante score.

“She was a little green (inexperienced) in the Sorrento,” O’Neill said. “But I think with maturity and more racing that will go away. She drew the No. 1 (post) again, but she has trained well and, especially with young horses, a lot can change race to race — for good or bad.

“So much depends on getting a good trip and hopefully Mario (Gutierrez) can work one out from the rail and save some energy for the last part.”

The field from the rail with riders and morning line odds: Get On the Bus (Gutierrez, 8-1); Roll Up Mo Money (Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1); My Girl Red (Flavien Prat) Princess Noor (Victor Espinoza); Illumination (Abel Cedillo, 4-1), and Forest Caraway (Ricardo Gonzalez, 7-2).