DEL MAR – Bullard went off as the favorite, so Sunday’s victory in the featured Bob Hope Stakes could not be seen as a surprise.
But the 4¾-length win by the son of Gun Runner in the seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds at least temporarily interrupted one of the great runs in the history of Del Mar’s fall meetings.
Going into Sunday, Bob Baffert had trained winners in three straight Hopes. “The king of 2-year-olds” had saddled seven of the first 10 Hope winners at Del Mar. And going into Saturday, he had saddled four of the nine previous winners of the Desi Arnaz filly side of the twin $100,000 juvenile stakes.
This year, he’s 0-for-2 — marking only the third time in 11 years and the first time since 2020 that a Baffert horse didn’t win at least one of the two races (the Arnaz was not run in 2016).
Not that the Michael McCarthy-trained Bullard and jockey Umberto Rispoli left much of an opening.
Trailing in the five-horse field after a fast (:43.4) half-mile, Bullard ($4.20) hit the afterburners in the far turn and easily ran down Baffert’s Madaket Road and early leader McKinzie Street. Madaket Road (Antonio Fresu) finished second with McKinzie Street third. Baffert’s other entry (Kalea Bay) was eased and finished last.
On Saturday, Baffert’s three entries ran 2-3-4 behind trainer Tim Yakteen’s Practical Dream in the Arnaz.
“I thought the pace was very fast, something that I was wishing for before the race,” said Rispoli of Bullard’s second career start. “I don’t think it was his best today. Once he understands how all this really works, I think he’s going to improve, improve and improve.
“I think he’s a horse that deserves a bit more distance. He moved, he gallops like a good horse, like a great horse. Everything is about learning with him.”
Said McCarthy: “I thought McKinzie Street was the horse to beat. When they were three wide across the track like that (at the head of the stretch), I felt pretty good.”
The win was the second of three on the day for Rispoli, who also won aboard Activated ($21.60 in the first) and Rashmi ($3.80 in the finale). He moves into the jockey lead with nine wins, one ahead of both Fresu and Juan Hernandez.
McCarthy saddled two winners Sunday, the first being Journalism ($11.80) in the sixth.
Turf festival
Racing resumes Friday with the first round of Del Mar’s annual Turf Festival scheduled for next Sunday as the second of two Grade III stakes set for the penultimate weekend of the fall meeting.
Saturday’s feature will be the Native Diver Stakes, a 11/8-mile for older horses on the dirt.
Mixto leads the list of eight nominees. Trained by Doug O’Neill, Mixto won the Grade I Pacific Classic — the premier event of Del Mar’s summer meeting — before finishing 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic here on Nov. 2. Mixto worked four furlongs in 47.8 seconds Sunday morning.
Baffert has nominated Santa Anita Derby runnerup Imagination, Ultra Power and Mirahmadi to the Native Diver. Also nominated is 2023 Native Diver runnerup Skinner.
The first of eight races in the Turf Festival will be Sunday’s Red Carpet Stakes, which has drawn 20 nominations including out-of-town interest from trainers Graham Motion, Brendan Walsh, Christophe Clement and Jonathan Thomas. The nominees include three recent stakes winners: Moment’s Pleasure (Solana Beach), Coffee in Bed (Grade II Santa Maria) and Mouffy (Grade II Dance Smartly), plus UAE Oaks runner-up Mizzyaan.
The 13/8-mile run for older fillies and mares has traditionally been run on Thanksgiving Day. But it was advanced to next Sunday because Del Mar is not running on Thanksgiving this season.
Seven graded stakes race, topped by the Grade Is Hollywood Derby (Nov. 30) and Matriarch Stakes (Dec. 1), will be run on the final weekend of the Del Mar fall meeting.
Notable
Long shot Jimmy Blue Jeans (Kyle Frey) beat Sarwar (Diego Herrera) to the finish by a nose in Sunday’s third race. But Jimmy Blue Jeans was disqualified and placed second behind Sarwar ($12) for forcing the winner wide down the stretch.
