Desert Gate romps in Best Pal; Heredia wires Yellow Ribbon

Desert Gate staked his claim as an early candidate for champion two-year-old male honors with an effortless triumph in Saturday’s $150,000 Best Pal (G3) at Del Mar.

The six-furlong dirt dash for juveniles drew a compact five-horse field. Two of the runners, including Desert Gate, hailed from the Hall of Fame barn of Bob Baffert. The other three were Doug O’Neill trainees.

Desert Gate started as the 1-5 favorite off a 2 1/4-length debut victory sprinting five furlongs at Santa Anita, and the son of Omaha Beach delivered on expectations. After dueling with O’Neill’s Punto Forty through fractions of :22.26 and :45.31, Desert Gate began to draw away without urging from jockey Juan Hernandez.

Indeed, Hernandez was virtually motionless down the homestretch, aside from glancing backward a couple of times to search for competition. No one could match strides with Desert Gate, so Hernandez let the favorite cruise to an 8 3/4-length win in 1:10.37.

“This horse is usually pretty quiet. But today he was on it,” said Hernandez. “He was feeling good in the paddock. He came away from there good, and he was running comfortably all the way. At the three-eighths (pole), he wanted to go, but I got him to wait. Then we took off in the stretch, and he was the best.”

Pavlovian outkicked Brigante by one length for second place, while Punto Forty tired to finish fourth. Desert Gate’s stablemate St Petersburg trailed the field.

Owned by the partnership of Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, Desert Gate is now 2-for-2 with earnings of $126,000. He was purchased for $260,000 as a two-year-old in training.

“It’s nice to see these horses develop like this,” said Baffert, who was winning the Best Pal for the 12th time. “He’s been kind of quiet down here, but he broke well, and that’s the most important part of these two-year-old races, is that they come out clean. This horse is very professional since day one. It’s nice to have these horses. That’s what we’re in the business for. We just got to keep him healthy and sound.”

The Best Pal marked Hernandez’s second win of the day, and it wouldn’t be his last. He won four races in a row during the second half of the card, culminating with a decisive score aboard 17-10 favorite Heredia in the $200,000 Yellow Ribbon H. (G2) for fillies and mares.

Heredia broke quickly in an eight-horse field and assumed command through splits of :24.93, :49.73, and 1:14.25. It was a stark change in tactics for the British-bred mare, who closed from behind in her first two U.S. starts, finishing third in the Beaugay (G3) and a division of the De La Rose S. on the New York Racing Association circuit.

Leading through slow fractions suited Heredia just fine. When the field turned for home, she kicked on with authority, pulling clear to win the 1 1/16-mile turf test by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:42.92. Her acceleration wasn’t an illusion; she blazed her final five-sixteenths of a mile in :28.67 over firm turf to give Hernandez his sixth win on the card.

“She took me to the front. My filly was really fresh at the post parade. And I was like ‘She’s gonna break sharp’ and she did,” said Hernandez. “You know, I was just galloping with her. It was her first time being on the lead, but she loved it. She was strong. I just feel she was really happy, and I just let her be. I was waiting for the quarter pole. She took off again around the quarter pole. And you know, that was it. She was fire to the wire.”

Public Assembly outkicked Watchtower by a nose for second place, followed by Hang the Moon, Mahina, Mission of Joy, Liguria, and Musical Rhapsody.

The Yellow Ribbon marked Heredia’s first win in nearly two years. A Group 1-placed miler in England, the daughter of Dark Angel missed 2024 with a suspensory injury, but is rounding back to peak form while competing stateside under the care of trainer Graham Motion.