Baffert's Havnameltdown Dominant in Best Pal
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Havnameltdown wins the Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar
With only his maiden win as preparation for graded stakes company, Bob Baffert trainee Havnademeltdown did not bat an eye Aug. 14 at Del Mar, taking the $200,000 Best Pal Stakes (G3) in effortless style as the 1-2 favorite.
Clear from his nine competitors early on, the 2-year-old son of Uncaptured was trailed through fractions of :21.74, :44.87, and :57.35 by Man Child and Agency over a fast track.
Heading into the final turn, Man Child put pressure on the frontrunner, but Havnameltdown under Juan Hernandez was not fazed in the slightest, picking up more speed to win by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:10.22, a stakes record for the six-furlong race. Baffert won the Best Pal for the ninth time.
Agency got up to finish second, Man Child held on for third, and Pop d'Oro moved up from eighth into fourth through the final turn.
"I was outside and my plan was to stay second or third, but he was real aggressive out of the gate," said Hernandez, who earned his seventh stakes victory of the meet. "He wanted to go to the front, so I just let him run and do his thing. At the quarter pole he was getting kind of lazy, so I woke him up a bit and he picked it up really well and got to the wire."
Havnameltdown paid $3 and improved to 2-for-2. His earnings increased to $168,000.
The colt's first race was only a little over two weeks ago, a July 24 maiden special weight race at Del Mar. His first performance was similar as he also led from start to finish and finished more than two lengths ahead of the field.
"He is built for speed if you look at him," Baffert said. "He is very precocious-looking; his sire was very fast. That will be his kind of distance. He has been solid and that was a good group of horses. He looked great in the paddock and has been training well... Happy we got the W."
Havnameltdown was a $16,000 yearling for Blas Perez Stables from the Beth Bayer consignment to the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales October Yearling Sale. Back at auction again earlier this year, the colt sold for $200,000 to Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, who purchase horses as "Three Amigos," from the Blas Perez consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Bred in Florida by Katherine Devall out of the Put It Back mare Ashley's Babe, Havnameltdown is the sole winner from her three foals to race. She has a yearling Tapiture colt and was bred to Maximus Mischief for the 2023 season.