By Alan Carasso
It's the final day of the meet where the 'turf meets the surf' where trainer Bob Baffert will likely finish the afternoon with an unprecedented 18th winner of the GI Del Mar Futurity, the final major contest of the season before the track gets all decked out in purple for the arrival of the Breeders' Cup in early November.
The Hall of Famer saddles three of Sunday's seven intended runners, each capable of walking away with the victory on their best. 'TDN Rising Star' Getaway Car (Curlin) is the most experienced of the trio with two starts to his credit, having wired a local five-furlong maiden by 3 1/4 lengths July 20 before validating 3-10 favoritism against just three rivals in the Aug. 11 GIII Best Pal Stakes.
“This guy's been a lot of fun,” Baffert said. “He has a great name. He's doing well and he's fast. He's always been very forward, no issues training him and he has a beautiful stride.”
The barn's number one rider Juan Hernandez sticks with the $700,000 Keeneland September yearling over Gaming (Game Winner), who is drawn outside of his stablemate and may have the superior early speed which was on full display when donning cap and gown by a wide margin at first asking Aug. 11. The dark bay colt gets the services of the visiting Flavien Prat, hardly a downgrade. Mike Smith takes over from Martin Garcia aboard the outposted Citizen Bull (Into Mischief), a $675,000 purchase at Keeneland last fall whose debut 84 Beyer Speed Figure on Aug. 17 is just one point shy of the number recorded by Getaway Car in the Best Pal.
If any of the Bafferts stub their toe, McKinzie Street (McKinzie) could pull a minor upset and give his young sire a second top-level winner in two weeks. The Tim Yakteen-trainee carried Kazushi Kimura to a front-running victory going 5 1/2 panels, defeating the Baffert-conditioned Emerald Bay (Nyquist), who saluted at 1-5 in his next start.
The Baffert barn has one of the chief protagonists for the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf in the form of Mischief River (Into Mischief). A full-brother to Grade III-winning distaff sprinter Into Chocolate and to Grade III-placed dirt router Secret Keeper, the $160,000 KEESEP yearling turned $500,000 OBS April juvenile returned better than $16 when graduating first time out at Los Alamitos June 29 and gave a good account of himself when the distant runner-up in the Best Pal. Tiz Happy (Runhappy) was last of the four in the Best Pal, but prior to that posted a 71 Beyer when proving a game first-out winner going five grassy furlongs at Santa Anita June 13. The in-form Kyle Frey will be looking to end the meet on a high note while carrying the same Calumet Farm colors as he did aboard Mixto (Good Magic) in the GI Pacific Classic for Tiz Happy's trainer Doug O'Neill last weekend.
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