Three Amigos Chase Del Mar Futurity/Debutante Double

The same owners could win the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1) and TVG Del Mar Debutante (G1), something that hasn't happened since 2001. Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman have contenders in both races with trainer Bob Baffert, the same Hall of Famer who swept the races 21 years ago.

Baffert has a record 15 Del Mar Futurities, including the 2001 edition, when he won the race for The Thoroughbred Corp. with Officer and the Debutante with Habibti, also for The Thoroughbred Corp. Baffert has three of the nine in this year's edition, which goes as the 10th race Sept. 11, closing day of the Del Mar season. Pegram, Watson, and Weitman own two of them, Havnameltdown  and Cave Rock , while a large partnership headed by SF Racing owns the third, Newgate .

Pegram, Watson, and Weitman, who buy horses in the name of Three Amigos, do well with 2-year-olds at Del Mar. They have Home Cooking  (the 9-5 morning-line favorite) and Fast and Shiny  in the Sept. 10 Debutante. They won the 2011 Futurity with Baffert-trained Drill   and in 2009 with Baffert-trained Lookin At Lucky  . Pegram's first victory in the race came in 2002 with Icecoldbeeratreds—also trained by Baffert.

Havnameltdown is the only Futurity entrant with a graded stakes win. He took the six-furlong Best Pal Stakes (G3) at Del Mar Aug. 14. With Del Mar leading jockey Juan Hernandez aboard, Havnameltdown led almost from the beginning to score by 2 1/2 lengths.

"He is built for speed if you look at him," said Baffert after the Best Pal. "He is very precocious looking; his sire was very fast."

A $200,000 purchase at this year's Ocala Breeders' Sales April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Havnameltdown is by Uncaptured , a millionaire 2012 Canadian Horse of the Year. Havnameltdown is 2-for-2; he broke his maiden by 2 1/4 lengths in his debut July 24 at Del Mar.

Baffert has named Mike Smith on Havnameltdown from post 8, while Hernandez sticks with Cave Rock (post 7). In his only start, with Hernandez on board, Cave Rock flew home by six lengths as the 6-5 favorite Aug. 13 at Del Mar. Cave Rock is by Baffert-trained champion Arrogate  and cost $550,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Should Newgate win, he would give most of his owners back-to-back victories in the Futurity. He is owned by many in the partnership of Pinehurst , the 2021 winner. Newgate, a son of Into Mischief   and an $850,000 Keeneland yearling, won his only race by 3 1/2 lengths. John Velazquez rode Newgate in that race and returns from post 6.

The Big Wam  is the only other stakes winner in the field. A Washington-bred, he won the Aug. 12 Graduation Stakes, one of the Golden Stakes Series races. He qualified for the California-bred race because those events are also open to California-sired runners and The Big Wam is by California sire Mr. Big  .

Hernandez rode The Big Wam in the Graduation and noted that the colt preferred the outside, but he had drawn post 2.

"That number 2, that's a tough decision when we got so much speed in the race," said trainer Luis Mendez. "But thank God he likes to come from behind. He's shown that on every single race."

This time The Big Wam drew the outside post. Mendez named Hector Barrios to ride. Mendez trained Dr. Schivel , the 2020 Futurity winner.

Bolt d'Oro  , the current leading sire of 2-year-olds and leading first-crop sire and the Del Mar Futurity winner of 2017, has sired two in this year's field, Agency  and Pop d'Oro . Both ran in the Best Pal, finishing second and fourth, respectively. 

Agency won a maiden race at Santa Anita Park in his only other start, while Pop d'Oro broke his maiden at Turf Paradise and then ran fourth in the Fasig-Tipton Futurity at Santa Anita. Mark Glatt trains Agency, to be ridden by Flavien Prat from post 2, and Hector Palma trains Pop d'Oro, to be ridden by Abel Cedillo from post 5.

Doug O'Neill, who trains Mixto  (Ramon Vazquez, post 3), has won the Del Mar Futurity twice, with Nyquist   in 2015 and with Stevie Wonderboy  in 2005. Both went on to earn Eclipse Awards as the year's champion 2-year-old male. A son of Good Magic   owned by Calumet Farm, Mixto ran fourth in his only outing.

Going into Del Mar's final three days of racing, Baffert and O'Neill were tied for the lead among trainers with 17 wins apiece. Right behind them at 16 was Phil D'Amato, who trains Futurity entrant Classical Cat  (Umberto Rispoli, post 1). In his only start, Classical Cat scored by 2 1/2 lengths at Del Mar Aug. 20.

John Shirreffs trains Skinner  (Victor Espinoza, post 4) for C R K Stable. A son of Curlin  , Skinner finished fifth to Havnameltdown in his debut but had trouble.

Entries: Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1)

Del Mar, Sunday, September 11, 2022, Race 10

• Grade I
• 7f
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 2 yo
• 5:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Classical Cat (KY)	Umberto Rispoli	120	Philip D'Amato	8/1
2	2Agency (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Mark Glatt	12/1
3	3Mixto (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	118	Doug F. O'Neill	20/1
4	4Skinner (KY)	Victor Espinoza	118	John A. Shirreffs	8/1
5	5Pop d'Oro (AZ)	Abel Cedillo	118	Hector O. Palma	50/1
6	6Newgate (KY)	John R. Velazquez	123	Bob Baffert	4/1
7	7Cave Rock (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	Bob Baffert	6/5
8	8Havnameltdown (FL)	Mike E. Smith	123	Bob Baffert	4/1
9	9The Big Wam (WA)	Hector Isaac Berrios	123	Luis Mendez	10/1