Del Mar’s 77^th summer season of Thoroughbred racing will be climaxed Monday* with a vintage renewal of the Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Futurity, the seven-furlong contest for two-year-olds which has been pivotal in the development of future stars, including the last three winners of the Kentucky Derby – Eclipse Award champions California Chrome, American Pharoah and Nyquist.

 

California Chrome was a troubled sixth in the 2013 Futurity but went on to Horse of the Year honors the next year en route to becoming North America’s richest money-winner of all-time with earnings of more than $13 million.

 

American Pharoah ended a 37-year drought when he swept the 2015 Triple Crown, the first since Affirmed in l978, and also was acclaimed Horse of the Year after a memorable triumph in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

 

Nyquist followed up his Futurity victory with success in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and earned recognition as 2015’s best two-year-old, setting the stage for his Kentucky Derby win last spring.

 

Three potential stars head the field in Monday’s 69^th Futurity.

 

Chasing Aces bettered Soldier Girl’s 52-year-old Del Mar record for five furlongs when he blistered the distance in 56.21 seconds in breaking his maiden July 17.

 

Straight Fire, runner-up to Chasing Aces, returned brilliantly August 6 when he won by ten and one-half lengths in 1:14.94 for six and one-half furlongs.

 

Klimt won the Futurity steppingstone Best Pal Stakes August 13 in game fashion and is trainer Bob Baffert’s hopeful for an incredible 13^th Futurity triumph.

 

Tyler Baze returns aboard Chasing Aces, who is trained by Peter Miller; Kent Desormeaux again has the call from brother Keith Desormeaux on Straight Fire and Rafael Bejarano will pilot Klimt.

 

Completing the line-up are stylish debut winner Midnight Pleasure, Martin Garcia, and maidens Vegas Itch, Jamie Theriot, and Dynamic Ruler, Flavien Prat. Stakes-winning Klimt carries highweight of 123 pounds, three more than rivals Chasing Aces, Straight Fire and Midnight Pleasure and five more than Vegas Itch and Dynamic Ruler.

 

Supporting features Monday are the $75,000 Pirate’s Bounty Stakes at six and one-half furlongs for older horses, and the $100,000 Juvenile Fillies Turf at one mile on the infield grass course.

 

The Futurity is carded as the fifth race on a ten-race program, preceded by the Pirate’s Bounty as the third and followed by the Juvenile Fillies Turf as the eighth event. Post time for the first race on closing day is 2 p.m.

 

 

*A previous version of this story incorrectly said the race was Wednesday