A different kind of summer racing season for Bob Baffert is likely to end in familiar triumphant style this week.
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Continuing the eastward shift he began earlier in the year, Baffert has run fewer horses than usual at Del Mar and more than usual in Kentucky, New York, New Jersey and Virginia, winning more stakes-level races in those states (four) than in California (three) since mid-July.
“So far, so good,” the Hall of Fame trainer said Thursday of splitting his stable in pursuit of more racing opportunities – and often higher purses – at tracks back east.
The change has been a little less dramatic in Baffert’s 2-year-olds division, which accounted for most of his wins at Del Mar in July and August. So even in this time of change, it will be no surprise if Baffert dominates the pair of Grade I stakes for 2-year-olds on the meet’s closing weekend. It could be the ninth time he wins both the Del Mar Debutante on Saturday and the Del Mar Futurity on Sunday in the same year.
The 7-furlong Futurity, in which Baffert’s 19 winners began with Kentucky Derby winner-in-the-making Silver Charm (1996) and include Triple Crown winner-to-be American Pharoah (2014), is led by his Hughes (Juan Hernandez riding) and Domus (Antonio Fresu). The other horses in the five-horse race, Phone Booth (Umberto Rispoli), High Pronto (Kazushi Kimura) and Dang Son (Emisael Jaramillo), are all trained by Doug O’Neill.
Hughes, a $675,000 son of Into Mischief, is 2 for 2 after an easy win in the Best Pal Stakes, while Domus, a Baoma Corp. homebred by Uncle Mo, is 1 for 1.
“Domus is green, but he’s getting better and better,” Baffert said in a phone interview. “Hughes looks more like a horse who’d want to go (longer), but he’s shown he has speed. As long as they run like they did last time, we’ll be good.”
The 7-furlong Debutante, which Baffert has won 12 times, drew a field of 10 fillies led by his Miss Monica (Hernandez) and Holmby (Ricky Gonzalez). The competition includes the Brendan Walsh-trained shippers Panda Listen (Kimura) and Fast Amy (Hector Berrios).
Speed figures point to recent maiden-breaker Miss Monica, an $850,000 daughter of Early Voting, over Holmby, the Sorrento Stakes-winning daughter of Corniche. But Baffert says they’re “hard to separate.”
Five horses in the Del Mar Futurity would be the fewest in more than 20 years. That’s even though Del Mar made changes in 2-year-old maiden race conditions this season to try to help more barns develop good young horses. Inshallah, the $2.1 million son of Flightline who won his debut Aug. 15 for trainer John Sadler, is waiting for Santa Anita’s Oct. 3 American Pharoah Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race that awards Kentucky Derby qualifying points.
Baffert’s own high-priced 2-year-old, the $10.5 million Flightline offspring Zedan, has yet to record a workout. Baffert said Zedan is “fine” but will not be ready to race in the Oct. 30 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland. As for where Zedan will train, he said, “He’s going to be wherever I’m at.”
Baffert said he’s surprised so few horses, from only two barns, are in the Futurity. But he made clear that he didn’t blame the Del Mar racing office for such small fields.
“Del Mar’s really done a great job with the horse population they have,” Baffert said.
The meet closes Monday. The Futurity and Debutante are two of nine stakes between Friday and Monday.
HIS TIME, FINALLY
Hi Octane, named the 2025 champion West Coast quarter-horse 2-year-old gelding despite disappointments in finals, goes for the biggest victory of his career in the Grade II Golden State Derby at Los Alamitos on Saturday night.
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Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo rode Kristen Watanabe-trained Hi Octane to the fastest qualifying time of 19.912 seconds for 400 yards in the Aug. 15 trials, .009 faster than the filly You Are The Best.
HE RETIRED RICH
Most U.S. racing fans probably lost track of who is the highest-earning thoroughbred. The answer is Romantic Warrior, the Irish-bred, Hong Kong-based gelding whose retirement at age 8 was announced this week. Romantic Warrior banked about $36.8 million for owner Peter Lau, according to currency conversions by the website Idol Horse, while winning 24 of 31 races in a career that never reached North America.
The new active leader is Forever Young, the Japan-based 5-year-old who has about $31.7 million. A big chunk of that came in Forever Young’s victory in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar last fall, but the biggest came when he won a stretch duel with Romantic Warrior in the $20 million Saudi Cup earlier in 2025.
Currently tops among U.S.-based horses is Arrogate, 10th overall with about $17.4 million. The Baffert-trained horse’s victories included the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.
MEANWHILE, AT SARATOGA
Like Del Mar, Saratoga wraps up its summer season on the Labor Day holiday. The 7-furlong Hopeful Stakes, Saratoga’s equivalent of the Del Mar Futurity, drew eight 2-year-olds from eight barns. They’re led by Booked, a son of Yaupon (out of Fingerprint, hence the name).
SHORTENING UP
• Angel Quiroz, one of the two trainers of the “Fair Hill Five” horses who scored upset victories Aug. 9 at Saratoga and Monmouth amid unusual betting activity, has been suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority after race winner Tepeyak and fourth-place Scootaloo tested positive for albuterol. Quiroz had another horse based at the Fair Hill, Md., training center test positive for the prohibited bronchodilator in July. He’s contesting the suspension, which is provisional while the case is adjudicated.
• HISA itself is facing calls for more scrutiny in light of the delayed revelation of the earlier drug positive for a Quiroz-trained horse, and the separate scandal involving thoroughbred owner and gambler Marshall Gramm illegally accessing the regulator’s regulatory records. Gramm has denied the full allegations but accepted a provisional suspension from various racing activities, and has given back handicapping tournament winnings.
• As horseplayers chew over evidence that the proverbial “they” know things we don’t, the Daily Racing Form took a positive step by announcing its Formulator past performances have begun showing when horses were scratched from previous races and official explanations such as physical ailments.
• Don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen again: After a race Wednesday at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania scratched down to three runners, the track allowed show betting. Anyone who noticed and wagered on any horse was guaranteed a 5% profit as 1-2-3 finishers Truthorconsequence, Tiz Purple and Moon Halory each paid $2.10 to show. But few seemed to notice: The show pool was just $4,637. The apparent error cost the track $1,020.
• Sovereignty remained No. 1, Pacific Classic winner Knightsbridge No. 2, in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s weekly poll. The big mover was Englishman, up from No. 13 to No. 7 after the 3-year-old sprinter demolished the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga on Saturday. Travers Stakes upsetter Leading Change joined the rankings at No. 12.
Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at X.com/KevinModesti.
DEL MAR LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Joel Rosario / 36
Juan Hernandez / 30
Antonio Fresu / 26
Umberto Rispoli / 20
Emisael Jaramillo / 20
Kazushi Kimura / 18
Armando Ayuso / 16
Hector Berrios / 14
Tyler Baze / 9
Joe Bravo / 7
Tiago Pereira / 7
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 24
Phil D’Amato / 14
Peter Miller / 12
George Papaprodromou / 11
Bob Baffert / 10
Mark Glatt / 10
John Sadler / 10
Jeff Mullins / 9
Michael McCarthy / 9
Tim Yakteen / 7
Craig Lewis / 7
UPCOMING STAKES
DEL MAR
Friday
• $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes, California-bred 2-year-old fillies, 6 furlongs
Saturday
• $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Debutante, 2-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs
• $100,000, Grade III Del Mar Juvenile Turf, 2-year-olds, 1 mile on turf
• $100,000 Tranquility Lake Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile
Sunday
• $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Futurity, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs
• $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile
• $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf
Monday
• $250,000, Grade II John C. Mabee Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1⅛ miles on turf
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• $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes, Cal-bred 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $171,900, Grade II Golden State Derby, 3-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards