Best Pal

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Only four opponents will try to defeat juvenile sensation WHAT A SONG (Songandaprayer)
in the 6 1/2-furlong Best Pal S. (G2) at Del Mar on Sunday, and we’ll try to
beat the $1.9 million two-year-old-in-training purchase with BASHERT (Tiger
Ridge), trained by William Currin.

Second to What a Song last time in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship S.
(G3), Bashert was compromised by an awkward start after breaking inward when the
gates opened. The bay then rushed to the lead under Rene Douglas, where he set
decent opening splits and still had enough left in the tank for a stretch-long
battle with What a Song, falling short by a neck at the wire. Prior to that one,
Bashert broke his maiden at second asking when closing with authority from just
off the pace to record a five-length victory going 5 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood.
The colt has been training brilliantly in the mornings at the seaside track,
most recently drilling five-eighths in a bullet :57 3/5, and we like his chances
for the upset, albeit a minor one, with Douglas back in the saddle.

What a Song is undefeated from two career starts and has recorded two blazing
works over this surface since his Hollywood Juvenile win, working a bullet three-quarters out of the gate in 1:10 4/5 on August 1 and getting five furlongs in a
rapid :58 3/5 six days back. The Bob Baffert-conditioned dark bay gets regular
rider Victor Espinoza in the irons and will be tough to beat in this spot.

David la Croix will send out CORAZONDELCAMPEON (Comic Strip) for the Best Pal
off an amazing first-out performance. The bay colt was last out of the gate in a
five-furlong maiden event before finding his stride and passing every other
rival in the six-horse field en route to a six-length score and a BRIS Speed
rating of 100, quite competitive for this group. Corazondelcampeon will be
included in all exotics in an attempt to create some value.

A. P. WARRIOR (A.P. Indy), a first-out winner for Eoin Harty at Hollywood in
July, will take on both winners and stakes company for the first time in this
spot, but we’ll still use the dark bay colt in the lower levels of the exotics.

PLUG ME IN (Hold for Gold) finished fourth in his only career outing and may
be ambitiously placed here.