Coach Bob Baffert has received 10 runnings of the Bob Hope Stakes (G3), a tally more likely to enhance when the $100,000 race for juveniles is renewed Nov. 14 at Del Mar.
He has three of the 5 entrants within the seven-furlong sprint, which usually propels horses into the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), held this yr Dec. 11 at Los Alamitos Race Course. The 1 1/16-mile Los Alamitos Futurity is the final main two-turn race for juveniles in California every year.
The Baffert trio are the three morning-line favorites. Winning Map , a first-out winner at Santa Anita Park Oct. 3, is 7-5 on Jon White’s morning line, adopted intently by Messier at 8-5 and Kamui at 5-2.
The two remaining entrants, Forbidden Kingdom and Rock N Rye are 9-2 and 15-1, respectively.
Winning Map, a Liam’s Map colt owned by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud, was the priciest of the three at public auction at a cost of $525,000. Narvick International purchased him from the Pick View consignment to the Ocala Breeders’ Sales March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Prior to the sale, he worked a quarter-mile there in :20 3/5.
Velocity by the H & E Ranch-bred colt over an extended distance was on show in his debut when he raced six furlongs in 1:10.38. Jockey Mike Smith, who teamed with Baffert final week to win the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Offered by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1) at Del Mar with Speedway Stables’ Corniche , returns in the irons from post 3.
Messier took two starts to graduate from the maiden ranks, though he ran even faster than Winning Map, zipping three-quarters in 1:10.26 at Santa Anita Oct. 22. His sharp clocking in a 6 1/2-length victory came despite jockey Flavien Prat sitting motionless on him through the stretch.
#3 Messier with the easiest of wins taking the 4th at Santa Anita! Congrats to the connections!
Up next at Santa Anita is race 5 and the start of the Late Pick 4! Tune in to TVG for live, on-site coverage & get into the action at https://t.co/nBYFHj6ufh! pic.twitter.com/JabUmLOEes
— TVG (@TVG) October 22, 2021
The rail-drawn Empire Maker colt races for the partnership of Golconda Stable, Madaket Stables, SF Racing, Siena Farm, Starlight Racing, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, Robert Masterson, and Jay Schoenfarber. The Ontario-bred colt is out of Smart Strike mare Checkered Past , who won back-to-back runnings of the Trillium Stakes at Woodbine in 2014-15.
He was a $470,000 buy from The Saratoga Sale at Fasig-Tipton from the consignment of his breeder, Sam-Son Farm.
Baoma Corp.’s Kamui (Quality Road ) similarly was a second out winner, though his triumph came at Los Alamitos Sept. 11, where he ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:03.04 under Abel Cedillo.
As agent, Donato Lanni bought him as a weanling for $400,000 from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment to the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Later consigned to the 2020 September Yearling Sale at Keeneland, Kamui went unsold when bidding stalled at $875,000.
Kamui was beaten a half-length in his Aug. 21 debut at Del Mar by Forbidden Kingdom, a speedy American Pharoah colt owed by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm. Forbidden Kingdom, trained by Richard Mandella, subsequently ran third in the Oct. 1 Speakeasy Stakes on turf at Santa Anita.
The Walther Solis-trained Rock N Rye is the Bob Hope’s lone stakes winner, a Stay Thirsty colt with a 2-2-1 record in five starts, all in California-bred company for owners Tom London, Terry Lovingier, and Eugene Zondlo.
Entries: Bob Hope S. (G3)
Del Mar, Sunday, November 14, 2021, Race 8
- Grade III
- 7f
- Filth
- $100,000
- 2 yo
- 4:00 PM (native)
