King of Speed © Benoit Photo 

GARY STEVENS (King of Speed, winner) – “My 100th stakes win at Del Mar. Wow. I hope I can get number 101 a little later (he rides Majestic Eagle in the Del Mar Derby).

“I’ve liked this colt right from the beginning. I was getting on him early and I told Jeff ‘This could be my Del Mar Futurity horse.’ But he wasn’t doing as well as I thought he should on the dirt, so I said ‘Let’s try him on the grass.’ Jeff did and he responded much better to it. It’s a great feeling to be right about something like this every once in a while. He’s a nice colt and he’s found the place where he wants to be.”

FLAVIEN PRAT (Hartel, second) – “I had a perfect trip and when the hole opened turning for home, I had to go for it. I had no choice. But now, after the race is run, I’m wondering if it was too soon. What can you do.”

RAFAEL BEJARANO (Takeo Squared, third) – “When we went into the first turn, he tried to jump the fence on me. Then coming through the stretch, that other horse (Hartel) came over and scared my horse. That’s why I claimed foul.”

JEFF BONDE (King of Speed, winner) – “We’ve always liked the horse. He always finishes well in his races. But he was kind of like a teenager, he hadn’t grown into himself mentally. Gary (Stevens) has been working him every week and he’s been putting it together and getting better each race. We talked it over and with the speed in the race Gary said he was just going to take back, save all the ground and make one run. That’s just what he did.”

FRACTIONS:  :23.18  :47.77  1:12.33  1:24.55  1:36.77

The stakes win was the second of the meet, but first in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf for rider Stevens. He now has 100 stakes wins at Del Mar, third most of all time.

The stakes win was the first of the meet and first in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf for trainer Bonde. He now has 15 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The winner is owned by Del Secco, DCS, which is the nom du course for David Del Secco of Hayward, CA.