AN ASTUTE STAKES VICTORY

There are times when sure things aren’t that sure.

Take Saturday’s Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar as a primary example.

Bob Baffert had trained four of the first six winners in the annual 7-furlong sprint on the dirt for 2-year-old fillies. And in Private Mission, Baffert had the 1-2 betting favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 feature.

But Astute ran away from Private Mission entering the stretch and powered to a 71⁄2-length win over Queengol to produce the first stakes win of Del Mar’s fall meeting for a pair of Hall of Famers — jockey Mike Smith and trainer Richard Mandella.

Queengol rallied after getting bumped several times by Miss Costa Rica leaving the starting gate.

Private Mission finished fourth, eight lengths behind the Kentucky-bred daughter of Speightstown. Astute, who now has two wins in as many starts, paid $12.20 to win as

the second-choice in the sixfilly field.

It was more of a trouncing than an upset

“Wow, that’s what I’ve got to say,” said Smith. “I knew she was good, I just didn’t know she was this good. She was good on the grass (where she won her first race at Santa Anita on Oct. 12). But she’s even better on the dirt.”

“I expected she’d run well today,” said Mandella. “But maybe not this well.”

Ahead early, Astute was second and outside of Private Mission on the far turn. She then found a gear at the top of the stretch that no

other entry in the race could match.

“The owners and the manager (Alex Solis Jr.) told me before I ever saw Astute that she was special,” said Mandella. “That’s kind of held true.

“She got a little sick on me in the summer and I had to give her a month off, so that’s why she was a little late starting her career.”

The focus on youth continues today with the Grade III Bob Hope Stakes, where Baffert’s Spielberg is the 6-5 morning-line favorite over the Ryan Hanson-trained Weston in the six-horse race

— also at 7 furlongs on the dirt.

Notable

With 52-1 shot Cause i did it my way ($106.60) winning the second race, 15-1 Rocking Redhead ($33.40) winning the third and Del Mar Flash

($18.40) winning the fifth, the early Pick-5 paid $29,948 Saturday

A day after scratching his three scheduled starters due to “an illness in his barn,” Mark Glatt picked up the 999th training win of his career with Pubilius Syrus

($7.40) in the fourth race. Glatt is the owner-trainer of Pubilius Syrus.

Jockey Aaron Gryder,

50, has announced he will retire at the end of the Del Mar Fall meeting. Gryder, who launched his riding career 34 years ago at Caliente in Tijuana, has 3,905 wins, 3,905 runner-up finishes and 3,924 third-place finishes in 29,929 starts in the United States plus 113 wins at foreign tracks.