Eleven set for Del Mar Futurity

Del Mar's season ends with a crescendo on Wednesday, with a four-stakes card

anchored by the Grade 1, $300,000

Del

Mar Futurity. The seven-furlong test for juveniles has attracted no fewer

than five runners from the August 4 Best Pal, topped by the trifecta comprising

Alberts Hope, Celtic Moon and Guns Loaded, respectively; Graduation Stakes hero

California Chrome; and such upwardly-mobile maiden winners as Can the Man, Dance

with Fate, Rum Point and Indexical.

Alberts Hope, unbeaten from two starts, has employed a similar

stalk-and-pounce style in each. After rallying from just off the pace in a

five-furlong maiden at Hollywood on July 14, the Mike Puype pupil settled a bit

further back in the opening quarter of the 6 1/2-furlong Best Pal, but smoothly

advanced into contention and subdued a stubborn Celtic Moon. Regular rider

Alonso Quinonez will guide the gelded son of Run Away and Hide from post 5.

Celtic Moon ran a gallant race in defeat in the Best Pal, where he gamely

threaded the needle on the rail and fought Alberts Hope all the way to the wire.

A turf sprint maiden winner two starts back, the Peter Miller trainee gets a

rider switch to Garrett Gomez. Celtic Moon, who is the first winner sired by

Denis of Cork, will also try to become his sire's first stakes hero.

The Cody Autrey-trained Guns Loaded argued the pace in the Best Pal before

tiring to third. Given his speed-oriented pedigree, the D'wildcat colt could be

up against it to turn the tables over the extra half-furlong here.

California Chrome is the only other entrant with stakes experience, having

rolled to a good-looking win in the July 31 Graduation over

California-restricted company. His lone foray into open company wasn't

encouraging -- a fifth in the June 15 Willard Proctor Memorial at Hollywood --

but trainer Art Sherman observed that he ran greenly that day. California Chrome

benefited mightily from an equipment change to blinkers in the Graduation, and

swerves an easier spot in Monday's I'm Smokin to tackle the big guns here.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has won the Del Mar Futurity an incredible

11 times, including the past two runnings, and seeks to make it a dozen with

smart debut winner Can the Man. A $320,000 Barretts purchase in May, the Kaleem

Shah colorbearer chased a wicked pace in his August 17 unveiling and pulled 1

1/2 lengths clear. Martin Garcia will reunite with the well-bred Into Mischief

colt, who is out of Group 2 heroine Smolensk and hails from the immediate family

of champion Rags to Riches.

Dance with Fate was no threat to Alberts Hope in their mutual debut, winding

up eighth after a slow start, but the Peter Eurton juvenile was a different

proposition next time out. Flashing early speed on August 11, the son of

freshman sire Two Step Salsa opened up briskly under good handling. Rafael

Bejarano sticks with Dance with Fate, who is drawn just to the outside of Can

the Man in post 3.

His two leading opponents, Station House and Diamond Bachelor, exit

convincing debut wins at this course and one-mile distance. The well-regarded

Station House set solid fractions in his July 24 bow for Hall of Famer Richard

Mandella, and keeps Stevens in the saddle. The Patrick Biancone-trained Diamond

Bachelor, a $570,000 War Front colt from the loaded family of Raven's Pass,

pressed early before kicking clear late on August 8.

Others to note include Hollywood Juvenile Championship runner-up Ontology,

who switches surfaces after a lackluster fourth in the Best Pal; maiden claiming

winners Smokin' Ten and Easy Solution; and Yes Yes Yes, only sixth to Can the

Man in his premiere, but eligible to take to turf as a son of City Zip.

The $90,000

Pirate's Bounty, a six-furlong dash on Polytrack, features a graded

stakes-quality field. O'Neill sends out Private Zone, Baffert has comebacker

Roman Threat and So Brilliant, millionaire Rail Trip makes his second start off

the bench for Ron Ellis, and Ruler of Dubai resurfaces after a nearly two-year

hiatus.

Private Zone was last seen finishing ninth in the March 30 Dubai Golden

Shaheen on the Tapeta at Meydan. Unplaced in both of his starts at Del Mar last

summer, the former Panamanian champion has been much better on dirt so far.

Private Zone has placed in five U.S. stakes, most notably when runner-up in both

the December 26 Malibu and January 19 Palos Verdes at Santa Anita. Regular rider

Martin Pedroza will be back at the helm.

Roman Threat has been sidelined for 15 months. The half-brother to two-time

champion Indian Blessing has made it to the starting gate only three times, all

in the spring of 2012. Beaten only by champion Amazombie in the Potrero Grande

at Santa Anita, Roman Threat won his other two starts, including the Los Angeles

Handicap at Hollywood. Stablemate So Brilliant has had a stop-start career,

punctuated by a victory in the 2011 Hollywood Prevue and a successful

reappearance in a June 30 allowance at Hollywood. Garcia retains the mount on So

Brilliant, while Bejarano gets the return call on Roman Threat.

In the $90,000

C.E.R.F.

Stakes for distaffers, the companion to the Pirate's Bounty, Gypsy Robin

seeks to rebound from her only reverse on synthetic. For former trainer Wesley

Ward, the speed merchant went four-for-four on synthetic. Last season, she

turned the Beaumont/Raven's Run double over Keeneland's Polytrack and also

landed the Inaugural on Presque Isle's Tapeta. Gypsy Robin toured the sales ring

at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky last November, where she was led out unsold for

$675,000.

Subsequently acquired by the partnership of A J L Productions, Jim Rome's

Jungle Racing and William Strauss, Gypsy Robin was a ring-rusty fourth in a July

18 allowance in her first start for Puype. That wasn't bad, considering that the

top two were Reneesgotzip and Executiveprivilege. Gypsy Robin has been tearing

up the Polytrack in her morning works, and figures to flaunt her class this

time.

Curvy Cat was third in that same high-powered allowance. Wednesday and Big

Honey Bee were separated by just a head when finishing one-two in another

track-and-trip allowance on August 7.

Madame Cactus returns from a nine-month layoff. A 6 1/4-length maiden romper

at Santa Anita for Eurton last September, Madame Cactus was sent to the Steve

Asmussen barn at Delta Downs, capturing the My Trusty Cat and checking in fourth

in the Delta Downs Prncess. She is now back with Eurton for a second-half

sophomore campaign. The Julio Canani-trained Givine, better known as a turf

sprinter, has been off form for some time.