Conclude © Benoit Photo

Nine 3-year-olds will match strides Sunday at Del Mar in the 78th edition of the Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby, a Grade II feature that carried a $300,000 purse and meet championship honors among the sophomore set.

The nine-furlong turf test will go as Race 10 on the 11-race program. Earlier – Race 7 to be precise – there will be the first half of the black-type double with the 49th running of the Shared Belief Stakes. The $125,000 offering, also for 3-year-olds only, is contested at a mile on the main track. It has drawn a field of six.

The horse to beat in the Derby is Little Red Feather Racing and Madaket Stable’s Conclude, winner of the Opening Day Oceanside Stakes in handy fashion. The son of Pacific Classic winner Collected had won a small stakes at Santa Anita in his start before that and his three-for-five record and bankroll of $179,600 is tops among the Derby participants.

As he did in the Oceanside, Hector Berrios will ride the colt for trainer Phil D’Amato and they’re listed as the 9/5 morning line favorite for the feature.

A pair of geldings appear to be the chief threats to Conclude in Red Baron’s Barn or Rancho Temescal’s Maltese Falcon and CYBT, McLean Racing Stables or Gevertz’s Almendares. Both come into the test off winning races, the former in Del Mar’s La Jolla Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth on the lawn on August 6, while the latter was a handy winner of a turf allowance test at the shore on July 23 in his U.S. bow.

Leading rider Juan Hernandez has the call on Maltese Falcon for trainer Leonard Powell, which Antonio Fresu will climb aboard Almendares for trainer D’Amato.

In the Shared Belief, the likely favorite will be the homebred Arrogate colt Mr Fisk, who races in the silks of Sunny Brook Stables. Bob Baffert, who conditioned Arrogate of course, calls the shots for Mr Fisk, too, and has secured the saddle services of top rider Hernandez for Sunday’s affair.

Here are the fields for the two stakes listed in post position order with riders and morning line odds:

Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby -- Great Friends Stables or Davis’ Ah Jeez (Tiago Pereira, 15-1); Conclude; Maltese Falcon (3-1); Cuyathy’s Reiquist (Ramon Vazquez, 15-1); Almendares (3-1); Hronis Racing’s Panic Alarm (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1); Al and Sandee Kirkwood’s Smart Code (Mike Smith, 12-1); Lamarock Stable’s Justin’s Legacy (Edwin Maldonado, 15-1), and CYBT, Nentwig or Pell’s Kid Azteca (Joe Bravo, 30-1).

Shared Belief Stakes – Pegram/Watson/Weitman’s Tahoe Sunrise (Victor Espinoza, 4-1); ISK Racing Stable, Hames or Lewkow’s Clouseau (Berrios, 6-1); The Del Mar Group’s Henry Q (Fresu, 5/2); Reddam Racing’s Low Expectations (Mario Gutierrez, 12-1); C R K Stable’s Smart Mo (Bravo, 3-1), and Mr Fisk. (2-1).

First post Sunday goes at 2 p.m.