Flavien Prat rides Gaming to Del Mar Futurity win

DEL MAR — Jockey Flavien Prat came west for closing day at Del Mar to find that one big thing here hasn’t changed: Trainer Bob Baffert still dominates the stakes for 2-year-olds, and it’s never a surprise when he does it with his “other” horse.

Prat lent a skilled hand by riding Gaming to a nearly two-length victory in the Del Mar Futurity on Sunday, completing a Baffert sweep of the 2-year-old stakes on Del Mar’s closing weekend after Kazushi Kimura guided Tenma to the win in the Del Mar Debutante on Saturday.

In both of the $300,000, Grade I sprints, the Baffert-trained winners beat Baffert-trained favorites, Gaming paying $9.80 while 9-5 Getaway Car finished fourth after Tenma paid $8 while 4-5 Nooni ran fifth.

“Babies, they change so much at this time of the year, so you never know,” Prat said in the winner’s circle. “When Bob enters his horses, he always runs to win. After that it’s up to the right trip.”

It’s also never a surprise when a horse gets the right trip under Prat, the 2019, ’20 and ’21 Del Mar summer riding champion who’s coming off a Saratoga-record 17 stakes wins at that New York track’s just-completed meet.

Gaming, an easy winner under Juan Hernandez in his one previous start, was allowed to settle in fifth among seven horses early in the 7-furlong Futurity. Getaway Car and Hernandez battled with long shot Brother Tony and Reylu Gutierrez for the lead through taxing quarter-mile fractions of 21.85 and 44.35 seconds. Gaming got up to battle Getaway Car on the turn for home and pulled away to finish in a moderate 1:23.02.

McKinzie Street and Kimura finished second, and Baffert-trained Citizen Bull and Mike Smith were third.

“Prat, he’s smart. He let the other ones go,” said Jimmy Barnes, the assistant trainer in charge while Baffert is away at a thoroughbred auction in Kentucky. “He let (Gaming) drop back a little bit, picked a spot up the rail and to the outside, and he was on his way.”

The win by the son of Game Winner was the 18th in the Del Mar Futurity for Baffert, and the seventh time he has won both the Debutante and Futurity in the same year. It was the fourth Futurity for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, and Pegram’s fifth in his own right. And it was Prat’s third Futurity.

Baffert and Hernandez wrapped up the Del Mar trainer and jockey standings, respectively. Baffert’s Futurity win was his 23rd race win at the meet. Hernandez’s three winners Sunday gave him 47.

It’s Baffert’s ninth Del Mar summer title, his first since he tied with D’Amato in 2022 and his first alone since 2003. The record-holder for trainers is Farrell Jones with 11 training titles between 1960 and 1974.

Following Baffert in the trainer standings were Phil D’Amato (two wins back with 21), Doug O’Neill (18), John Sadler (17), Mark Glatt (16), Peter Miller (13), Michael McCarthy (13), George Papaprodromou (13) and Jeff Mullins (11).

It’s Hernandez’s third Del Mar summer title — and third in a row, putting him in company with Bill Shoemaker, Joel Rosario, Rafael Bejarano and Prat as jockeys who’ve won three or more in a row.

After Hernandez in the jockey standings came Antonio Fresu (11 wins behind with 35), Umberto Rispoli (32), Hector Berrios (22), Kyle Frey (20), Kazushi Kimura (18), Armando Ayuso (13), Reylu Gutierrez (12) and Edwin Maldonado (12).

Earlier Sunday, Gutierrez rode his first stakes winner at Del Mar by rallying Jeff Mullins-trained Artislas along the rail to a half-length victory over Sabertooth and Scipio in the $100,000, Grade III Del Mar Juvenile Turf.

An Chorr Dubh, with Prat riding, finished seventh in the 13-horse race over 1 mile on the turf course that identifies contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

“Not many horses have courage to do that, especially horses his age (2),” Gutierrez said of squeezing through a narrow gap. “The future is very bright for him.”

Notable

• Iscreamuscream was named Horse of the Meet in a press-box vote that was close among several candidates. Iscreamuscream, also chosen as top 3-year-old filly, won the Grade II San Clemente Handicap on opening day and the Grade I Del Mar Oaks in August, both with Hector Berrios riding for trainer Phil D’Amato. She’s the first Del Mar Horse of the Meet since the mare Zenyatta in 2010 to come from outside the ranks of older males and Pacific Classic winners.

• Del Mar reported overall betting handle of $503 million for the 31-day season, along with average field size of 8.6 starters per race, both figures down from a year ago. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president Joe Harper said the handle would end up being down 4 percent to 5 percent, but he called it a “solid meet” and said the decline in business wasn’t surprising given changes at the track. The changes included the decision to cut off computer-assisted win wagers two minutes before post for each race, which reduced the number of late odds drops but cost the track some handle.

• Two horses died in races during the 31 days of competition, the most at a Del Mar summer meet since the California Horse Racing Board began posting such data in 2020, up from one in 2020, 2021 and 2023. The deaths of Giver Not a Taker on July 21 and Handsome Red on Aug. 3 both were attributed to musculoskeletal causes. Overall, four horses died in racing, training and other activity from musculoskeletal and non-musculoskeletal causes, which is fewer than the six in 2023 and slightly below the average of 4.5 in the past four years. Earlier this year, Santa Anita reported improvements in safety, with two deaths from 6,678 starts at the track’s winter-spring meet marking its lowest equine fatality rate on record.