The juvenile racing action slowed down a bit over the last few days, as Del Mar doesn’t race on Monday or Tuesday and Saratoga doesn’t open until Friday, but there was one very notable race at Del Mar on Sunday that warrants very close attention, as the winner looks like an extremely promising runner that could be poised to win some major graded stakes races this year.
The race in question was a five-furlong maiden special weight for fillies, and the winner was Bob Baffert’s Pretty N Cool, with Martin Garcia in the saddle. There had been talk before the race that Pretty N Cool might be something special, and after the race, it was clear that the talk was right. Sent off as the even-money favorite against eight rivals, Pretty N Cool splashed her way through an opening quarter-mile in :22.13 over a sloppy, sealed track, then bounded away from her rivals through a half-mile in :45.62 and crossed the wire in front by 4 1/2 lengths in the sharp time of :57.80 seconds. The time was good enough for a Beyer speed figure of 95, which–according to the current list of top 2yo Beyers on DRF.com–is the highest figure earned by any 2yo so far this year, and by the wide margin of eight points. Wow! Dreamy Art, a first-timer starter from the barn of Adam Kitchingman, tracked the pace before finishing a clear-cut second by 3 1/2 lengths over Imflatoutsweet, a Jerry Hollendorfer-trainee that rallied from sixth place to finish third.
As a daughter of Scat Daddy out of the Rockport Harbor mare Stayclassyandiego, Pretty N Cool’s pedigree suggests that she might be better suited to sprint or mile races than two-turn routes, and given Scat Daddy’s record as a sire thus far, she might also have a future on turf. But for the time being, she will almost certainly remain on dirt, with the September 5th Del Mar Debutante (gr. I) as her likely goal.
Chart of Pretty N Cool’s maiden race
Pretty N Cool’s pedigree
Replay of Pretty N Cool’s maiden race
