Trainer Bob Baffert hasn’t dominated the $150,000 Best Pal (G3) in quite the same fashion as he has the Del Mar Futurity (G1), having saddled only 10 winners of the six-furlong dash for two-year-olds compared to 17 in the Futurity. Nonetheless, Baffert has the horse to beat in Sunday’s renewal of the Best Pal, Getaway Car, who will break outside four rivals at Del Mar.
A $700,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, Getaway Car made a favorable impression on debut at Del Mar on July 20, breaking on top and scoring in comfortable fashion by 3 1/4 lengths going five furlongs. The extra furlong of the Best Pal doesn’t figure to pose a problem for the son of Curlin and Landaluce S. winner Surrender Now.
Getaway Car holds no serious advantage, however, off his debut Brisnet Speed rating of 87. Mischief River, a son of Into Mischief and Candy Drawer, earned an 86 following his upset win over the favored Privman in a June 29 maiden at Los Alamitos.
Nyquist in 2015 is the latest juvenile champion to win the Best Pal. His trainer, Doug O’Neill, will saddle Calumet Farm homebred Tiz Happy, who prevailed by an nose first out at Santa Anita in a five-furlong maiden on the turf.
O’Neill is also represented by the one confirmed closer in the field, Ivan the Great, who missed by a nose in his May 12 debut and finished a distant third in the Bashford Manor S. at Churchill Downs.
No filly has ever won the Best Pal, which dates back more than half a century. Attempting to become the first is White Sands, a Wesley Ward trainee who made short work of a maiden field at Belterra Park in Cincinnati, followed by a 13-length win against males in the Prairie Gold Juvenile at Prairie Meadows in suburban Des Moines.
Suffice it to say White Sands will find the competition at Del Mar more challenging.
