Bob Baffert can end Del Mar game on positive note – Orange County Register

DEL MAR LEADERS

(Until Monday)

Jockeys / Victories

Juan Hernandez / 42

Antonio Fresù / 31

Umberto Rispoli / 27

Hector Berrios / 20

Kyle Frey / 17

Kazushi Kimura / 14

Coaches / Victories

Bob Baffert / 21

John Sadler / 17

Doug O’Neill / 17

Phil D’Amato / 16

Marc Glatt / 15

Peter Miller / 13

WEEKEND CHALLENGES

FROM THE SEA

Friday

• $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes, California-bred 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs

SATURDAY

• $300,000, Del Mar Debutante, 2-year-old fillies, Grade I, 7 furlongs

• $250,000, John C. Mabee Stakes, Grade II, fillies and mares, 3 years and up, 1⅛ mile on turf

• $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf

Sunday

• $300,000, Del Mar Futurity, Grade I, 2-year-old, 7 furlongs

• $100,000, Grade III Del Mar Juvenile Turf, 2-Year-Old, 1 Mile on Turf

THE ALAMITOS

SATURDAY

• $250,000, Grade II Golden State Derby, 3-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards

IN THE GUIDELINE

• Bob Baffert can once again dominate the closing weekend at Del Mar when he runs several undefeated horses in the Del Mar Debutante on Saturday and the Del Mar Futurity on Sunday. The trainer has Nooni (ridden by Juan Hernandez) and Tenma (Kazushi Kimura) in a field of seven 2-year-old fillies in the Debutante, and Getaway Car (Hernandez), Gaming (Flavien Prat) and Citizen Bull (Mike Smith) among the seven 2-year-old fillies in the Futurity. Baffert has won the Debutante 10 times and the Futurity 17 times, and has won both in the same year six times.

• Del Mar turf queen Anisette (Umberto Rispoli) will face a challenge Saturday in the John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar. The seven-filly and mares field includes Didia (Hector Berrios), winner of three Grade I and II races on the East Coast and seemingly stronger now than she was when she won her only meeting with Anisette, the two finishing 1-2 in the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita in October.

• Hernandez, 11 wins ahead of Antonio Fresu as the final week of racing at the meeting began Thursday, is on course for his third straight summer title at Del Mar. Baffert, four wins ahead of John Sadler and Doug O’Neill, can dethrone Phil D’Amato, who won the summer title in 2023 and tied Baffert in 2022.

• Mixto’s 22-to-1 win with Kyle Frey in the Pacific Classic Saturday received the lowest Equibase speed figure (108) of the 34 races in Del Mar’s $1 million race. Mixto, who beat Full Serrano by a half-length, was timed in 2:02.10 for 1¼ miles. The Pacific Classic was weakened by the withdrawal of Adare Manor and the absence of several of California’s top older males.

• Highland Falls’ convincing victory with Prat aboard in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Sunday made the 4-year-old son of Curlin a threat for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Highland Falls climbed to No. 6 among Classic contenders, behind Fierceness, City of Troy, Forever Young, Sierra Leone and Dornoch. The standings are voted on by racing writers, handicappers and officials and do not influence which horses enter the race.

• Prat set a Saratoga record with 18 stakes victories, including 14 graded stakes and seven Grade I races, at the Spa meeting that ended on Labor Day. He has a good chance of winning the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in North America for the first time, ending Irad Ortiz Jr.’s six-year streak.

• The filly Rockin With Energy (submitted by Henry Reynoso Lopez) looks the fastest of the three fillies who will attempt to beat the males in Saturday’s Golden State Derby for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos.