Bob Baffert © Del Mar Thoroughbred Club

DAY 35

BAFFERT NEEDS FUTURITY FOR A ‘MISSION ACCOMPLISHED’ SEASON

Entering Sunday’s penultimate program of the summer meeting, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert had 12 wins from 39 starters.

Eleven of those were in maiden races where he unveiled 2-year-old male talents like Roadster and Game Winner, his entrants in a field of seven for Monday’s Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Futurity. Or fillies like Mother Mother, runner-up to Bellafina in Saturday’s Grade I $300,000 Del Mar Debutante.

Since developing and testing promising juveniles has been a big part of Baffert’s program here for much of his 30 years training thoroughbreds, he has no major beef with that aspect of the 2018 meeting.

But Baffert’s only non-maiden race trip to the winner’s circle came when Dabster won the $75,000 Harry F. Brubaker Stakes on August 22. It can best be described as a small contribution to the Del Mar resume of the man who holds track records for most stakes wins (125) and overall wins (492) by a trainer.

So Baffert answered in the negative Sunday morning when asked if he could declare ‘Mission Accomplished’ to the season without adding to his record 13 victories in the Futurity.

“The goal is to win the Futurity and the Debutante,” Baffert said. “We came up short in the Debutante, but we’ve still got the Futurity.

“I should have run more horses in the Debutante. I should have just stayed home with (Chasing Yesterday). I’m mad at myself now.”

Chasing Yesterday, a full sister to Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, scored a debut victory here on July 28, six days after Mother Mother was an impressive debut winner here. Baffert sent Chasing Yesterday east for Saturday’s Grade I $350,000 Spinaway in which she finished seventh.

The six-week wait between starts may have affected Mother Mother’s performance in the Debutante, Baffert said. But she came out of the races well and will be targeted for major stakes in the weeks to come.

Baffert has the 6-5 morning line Futurity favorite in Roadster and the 4-1 third choice in Game Winner. Highly-touted Roadster debuted July 29 with a 4 ¼-length victory that was accorded an 81 Beyer speed figure. Game Winner, a Kentucky-bred son of Candy Ride that was a $110,000 Keeneland September purchase for Gary and Mary West, made his initial start, on August 18, a winning one by 5 ¾ lengths and received a 77 Beyer.

“He’s got a lot of quality and he could be right there,” Baffert said. “He’s coming back kind of quick, but I’d rather do that than sit on them for a long time.”

The Futurity field from the rail: Sparky Ville (Gary Stevens, 20-1), Rowayton (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1), Roadster (Mike Smith, 6-5), Savagery (Joe Talamo, 15-1), Spin Lightning (Flavien Prat, 6-1), Sigalert (Tyler Baze, 8-1) and Game Winner (Tiago Pereira, 4-1).

BELLAFINA, VASILIKA RECOVER NICELY FROM STAKES VICTORIES

Bellafina and Vasilika, winners of the Del Mar Debutante and John C. Mabee Stakes on Saturday, had some things in common. They were both ridden by jockey Flavien Prat and both appeared to come out of the efforts in good shape on Sunday morning.

Bellafina stood tall and energetic with her head over the webbing of her stall at the Simon Callaghan stable. Saturday’s Grade I victory was her second in three career starts and went well with the Grade II Sorrento accomplished here on August 5. The $180,000 winner’s share of the purse boosted her earnings to $308,000 for owner Kaleem Shah.

The Kentucky-bred daughter of Quality Road was purchased for $800,000 at the Fasig-Tipton sale in March.

“I said to Kaleem she’s the best filly I’ve trained,” Callaghan said. “She’s pretty special and I think she’s going to keep getting better.”

Vasilika made a big stretch run under Prat for a 1 ½-length victory over Cambodia that spoiled Cambodia’s bid to accomplish a Yellow Ribbon Stakes/John C.  Mabee double for the second year in a row.

Vasilika, 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Skipshot, won her sixth straight race and has only lost once in eight starts since being claimed for $40,000 by Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

“Just got lucky on that one,” Hollendorfer said. “We were looking for a horse and picked out that one. I’d trained Skipshot.”

Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward said Sunday morning that Vasilika came out of the race well, as did beaten Debutante favorite Brill.

“If there’s a reason for the bad race, we’ll try and we’ll find it,” Ward said. “But soundness wasn’t it. She’s fine and I guarantee that if you took her out there this morning she’d breeze in 1:26.”

The winning time for the seven-furlong Debutante was 1:25.54.

SEASON’S FLEETINGS: JOCKEY RACE; MILLER’S RECORD QUEST

With only two days remaining in the summer season, a capsule look at the race for the jockey title and runaway training leader Peter Miller’s progress toward the most wins in a meet in 55 years (Farrell Jones, 35 in 1963) or maybe 65 years (R.H. “Red” McDaniel, 36 in 1953):

McDaniel’s all-time record of 47 in the 41-day meeting of 1954 is out of reach. McDaniel had 41 days in the 1953 meeting and Jones 42 days in 1963. Miller’s final numbers will be in a 36-day meeting.

Looked at on a wins-per-day percentage, Miller’s meeting, at .911 is ahead of McDaniel (.878) and Jones (.833).

In boxing terms, the heavyweights in the jockey standings division exchanged haymakers on Saturday but the round was declared a draw with each winning three races.

Meet-leader Drayden Van Dyke struck first when he got The Spiral Jetter ($16.20) up by the narrowest of noses in the third race. Defending riding champion Flavien Prat countered in the next race, the Del Mar Debutante, on Bellafina ($6.60).

And so it went.

Van Dyke took the fifth on Much Better ($3.80). Prat came right back in the sixth with Tonahutu ($5.40). Van Dyke struck again on Magic On Tap ($3.60) in the ninth. Van Dyke countered with Vasilika ($10.40) in the John C. Mabee Stakes.

Van Dyke thus retained a two-win lead (37-35) over Van Dyke.

Miller won the second race with Moon Kitty under Evin Roman. It was Miller’s 31^st win in 34 days of the meeting.

Here’s the riding assignments Sunday for Van Dyke and Prat, and the entries on the 11-race card for Miller.

Van Dyke – Girl Drama (2^nd, 5-1), Hey Negrita (3^rd, 5-1), Message (5^th, 6-1), Owning (6^th, 6-1), Sneaking Out (7^th, 5-2), Ride a Comet (8^th, 7-2), Gonna Fly Now (9^th, 5-1) and Toshio (10^th, 8-1).

Prat – Miraculously (3^rd, 6-1), Kylemore (4^th, 5-2), Lady Dude (5^th, 7-2), Hartel (6^th, 3-1), Summer Rose (7^th, 5-1), River Boyne (8^th, 5-2), Omaha Beach (10^th, 5-2).

Miller – Girl Drama (2^nd, 5-1), Mongolian Window (3^rd, 8-1), Mischievous Song (3^rd, 12-1), Kim K (5^th, 6-1) and Hartel (6^th, 3-1),

CLOSERS –  Selected works from 173 officially timed Sunday morning: Ashleyluvssugar (4f, :48.60), Battle of Midway (4f, :48.20), Big Score (4f, :48.20), Horse Greedy (4f, :49.20), Masochistic (4f, :48.60), Shivermetimbers (4f, :50.40), The Lieutenant (4f, :48.60), Giant Expectations (5f, 1:02.60), Ransom the Moon (5f, 1:00.20), St. Joe Bay (5f, 1:02.20) and Storm the Hill (5f, 1:00.80).

DEL MAR STATISTICS

Jockey Standings

(Current Through Saturday, September 1, 2018 Inclusive)

Trainer Standings

(Current Through Saturday, September 1, 2018 Inclusive)

Winning Favorites Report

(Current Through Saturday, September 1, 2018 Inclusive)

Winning favorites -- 101 out of 298 -- 33.89%

Winning favorites on dirt -- 71 out of 184 -- 38.59%

Winning favorites on turf -- 30 out of 114 -- 26.32%

Winning odds-on favorites -- 28 out of 46 -- 60.87%

In-the-Money favorites -- 205 out of 298 -- 68.79%

In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 42 out of 46 -- 91.30%