Cave Rock serves notice in win
Favorite blazes to a record-setting victory in Del Mar Futurity
DEL MAR » There have been some mighty fine 2-year-olds that won the Del Mar Futurity, including three — Silver Charm, American Pharoah and Nyquist — that went on to capture the Kentucky Derby in the past quarter century.
It’s way early, folks, but you might want to follow Cave Rock next year if he can stay healthy and travel the Triple Crown trail.
He looked every bit a Derby horse Sunday on closing day at Del Mar when he won the $300,000 Grade I Futurity in a stakes record-setting time of 1:20.99 for the 7 furlongs.
“That was pretty impressive,” said trainer Bob Baffert, who watched the race on TVG and was reached by telephone while attending a horse sale at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky. Baffert’s now won the Futurity a record 16 times and found the winner’s circle seven consecutive years from the late ’90s into the early 2000s.
He owns the Del Mar Futurity, much like Cave Rock owned Sunday’s race that included two other Baffert juveniles — Havnameltdown and Newgate. The son of Arrogate,
who also sired the winner of Saturday’s Del Mar Debutante (And Tell Me Nolies), went gate to wire while carving out insane fractions of 21.56, 43.65 and 1:08.55 en route to a 5¼-length victory over stablemate Havnameltdown.
“They all ran well,” said Baffert, who described the lightning-fast splits as “crazy.” “I would have liked to run 1-2-3, but that horse (Cave Rock) has just been really impressive in his two outs down here.”
Cave Rock, ridden by the meet’s leading jockey, Juan Hernandez, won his debut in gate-to-wire fashion by six lengths at Del Mar on Aug. 13. He was sent postward as the 2-5 favorite Sunday by virtue