Alberts Hope will try to stay undefeated in Wednesday’s G1 Del Mar Futurity
WED 9/4/13 – DEL MAR
Highlighted by Best Pal winner ALBERTS HOPE, Eleven juveniles will face off in the final stakes of the 2013 Del Mar meet. Joining Alberts Hope will be Best Pal runner-up CELTIC MOON and GUNS LOADED – who was third in the Grade 2 event. Other starters coming from the Best Pal are ALPINE LUCK (5th) and SKYDREAMIN (6th).
Perhaps the most intriguing newcomer to stakes company is Khaleem Shah’s CAN THE MAN, trained by Bob Baffert. Intriguing mainly because Baffert has won the Del Mar Futurity an unprecedented 11 times. Can the Man was a debut maiden winner at 5 1/2 furlongs over the Del Mar Polytrack on August 17 by 1 1/2 lengths. Jockey Martin Garcia keeps the mount.
Baffert trying for record 12th victory in the Del Mar Futurity
CALIFORNIA CHROME is coming off a solid win in the Graduation Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar, a race restricted to California-breds. Alberto Delgado will ride the Art Sherman trainee.
Rounding out the field are DANCE WITH FATE, RUM POINT, TAMARANDO and INDEXICAL, all coming off maiden wins taking on stakes company for the first time.
ANALYSIS:
There seems to be no shortage of speed in this group of two-year-olds. I think Dance with Fate is most impressive of the speedsters considering he was able to keep it up through 6 1/2 furlongs. I don’t know if he will have enough in the tank to go gate-to-wire in this one, but I do believe he is a lot tougher than his debut eighth-place effort where he was defeated by Alberts Hope and Rum Point among others. Its hard to ignore Baffert here, he’s clearly shown he knows what it takes to win this race and Can the Man has done nothing wrong at this point. Alberts Hope will be the one to beat here, and if you get a price of 3-1 or better I say fire away.
The other one I think may have a shot to hit the board is Celtic Moon. The Peter Miller trainee held right with Alberts Hope down the stretch, defeated by a half-length and adding jockey Garrett Gomez certainly is a plus here. Should get a decent price considering the field size.
I am going to have to go with the Best Pal winner when it is all said and done. He posted a strong :47 1/5, four-furlong work on August 30 and I think he is the real deal.
Here are my recommended wagers:
Across the board on 5 – ALBERT’S HOPE
Exacta Box: 2-4-5
Trifecta (part wheel): 4,5 with 4,5 with 2,3,10
Giddy up!
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