Citizen Bull coasts in Shared Belief; The Padre too good in Del Mar Derby

Odds-on favorites lorded it over small fields in both of Del Mar’s Sunday stakes for three-year-olds. 

Champion Citizen Bull set himself up for a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) with an easy wire job in the $115,000 Shared Belief S. The Padre was unfazed by a slow pace in the $300,000 Del Mar Derby (G2), displaying his virtue to overcome a challenging scenario. 

Shared Belief S.

Citizen Bull, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) star, hadn’t won since the Feb. 1 Robert B. Lewis (G3) at Santa Anita. But the Bob Baffert colt was rejuvenated back at the seaside venue, over a one-mile trip right in his wheelhouse. 

A scratch-decimated field rendered his task even easier. Half of his four rivals scratched, and the one who might have made it competitive, stablemate Gaming, threw in a clunker. 

Hammered into 2-5 favoritism, Citizen Bull kept it simple by going straight to the lead from the outside post. Jockey Juan Hernandez guided the Into Mischief colt through splits of :22.39 and :45.88, tracked by Smooth Cruisein. By the time Citizen Bull motored through six furlongs in 1:09.96, Smooth Cruisein could no longer maintain his position, and Gaming began to drop further behind. 

Citizen Bull extended his margin to 5 1/2 lengths while making his final time, 1:35.12, appear effortless. 

“He was back to a distance he really loves,” Baffert said. “The Breeders’ Cup (Dirt) Mile is probably where we will be pointing. We were trying to get him back to form after what he went through. I told Juan (Hernandez) ‘Come back with bugs on your teeth.’ 

“It was good to see him put on a show today. You saw the champion Citizen Bull today.”

Smooth Cruisein crossed the wire nine lengths clear of Gaming. Baffert’s third entrant, Privman, was withdrawn along with Brother Brother. 

Owned by a consortium spearheaded by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables, Citizen Bull has bankrolled $1,556,000 from his 9-5-0-1 line. His first three stakes wins came at 1 1/16 miles – the American Pharoah (G1) prior to his Eclipse-clinching Juvenile, and the Lewis in his sophomore bow.

The reigning champion two-year-old male regressed over further, tiring to fourth in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and 15th in the Kentucky Derby (G1). An abrupt cutback to seven furlongs didn’t do the trick in the June 7 Woody Stephens (G1) in his latest at Saratoga. The two-turn mile at Del Mar was just right to get Citizen Bull back in business.

Del Mar Derby (G2)

Del Mar co-founder Bing Crosby would surely have appreciated the idea of an Irish import named The Padre winning the summer meet’s marquee race for sophomores. 

Following the scratch of stablemate Iron Man Cal, the 2-1 morning-line favorite, the Phil D’Amato pupil was bet down to odds of 7-10. The Padre had proven his ability to accelerate off a slow pace when getting up in time in the Aug. 3 La Jolla H., and that aptitude was the key to his Del Mar Derby victory.

Freedom’s Not Free, the 2.20-1 second choice, loomed as the controlling speed. Despite the efforts of Geometry, who attended through dawdling fractions of :25, :49.67, and 1:13.85, Freedom’s Not Free was getting away with larceny. 

Then The Padre intervened to restore order. Under confident handling by Umberto Rispoli, the favorite quickened down the lane to win going away by a length. The Padre clocked 1 1/8 miles on the firm turf in 1:49.23.

“The pace was slow; I could tell that,” Rispoli recapped. “But I was sitting with a handful of horse. I wasn’t concerned. Then when I asked, he answered.”

Freedom’s Not Free held second by a neck from Game Warrior, who had raced in tandem with The Padre early. Geometry faded to fourth, trailed by Mythical Reel.

Campaigned by Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables, and Marsha Naify, The Padre is now 3-for-4 lifetime with earnings of $259,585. The bay colt was imported after signaling serious potential in his Jan. 29 debut score on the Dundalk Polytrack. His only loss was a barnstorming second in his U.S. bow June 13 at Santa Anita, where he missed by a half-length. 

After turning the La Jolla/Del Mar Derby double, The Padre’s logical target is the Hollywood Derby (G1) over this same 1 1/8-mile circuit. 

“I’m extremely impressed with this horse,” D’Amato said. “The last two races – neither had any pace – and he’s not a pace horse. But he has a tremendous turn of foot, and to overcome really slow fractions like that just shows he’s a real racehorse. 

“I think the year-end goal for him will be something like the Grade I Hollywood Derby. We’ll just work around that, make him a Grade 1 winner and develop him for next year.”

Bred by John Halley in Ireland and initially trained by his son Josh, The Padre is another advertisement for the first crop of Godolphin’s world champion Ghaiyyath. The Padre’s dam, the Group 1-winning Lomitas mare Shalanaya, hails from the family of the great but tragically lamented Shergar.