DEL MAR — Trainer Bob Baffert went 1-2 Saturday as he successfully swept the first half of the 2025 juvenile summer championships.
But the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Debutante didn’t go exactly as Baffert — or the bettors — thought it would.
Longshot Bottle of Rouge ($20.20), owned by Baffert’s wife Jill and ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, passed 3-5 favorite Explora in the stretch to win Del Mar’s championship for 2-year-old fillies by a length with second-favorite Himika fading late in the seven-furlong race to finish fourth in the field of seven.
In other stakes run on the penultimate day of the meet:
• Gimme a Nother (Juan Hernandez) held off favorite Medoro (Umberto Rispoli) down the stretch to win the Grade II, $250,000 John C. Mabee Stakes for older fillies and mares by 1¼ lengths. Maryland-based trainer H. Graham Motion shipped two horses west during the meeting and both won stakes races.
• And 60-1 longshot Dreaming of Alys (Diego Herrera) defeated 70-1 longshot Pentle Bay by a length to win the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf and produce a $1,213.70 payout on a $1 exacta bet. Dreaming of Alys, the longest winner of the meeting, won by a length and the 50-cent, 10-12-7 trifecta paid $8,226.75.
The meeting closes Sunday with Baffert’s Brant expected to go off as a lopsided favorite in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity. But a win by any of the trainer’s four horses would give Baffert an eighth sweep of Del Mar’s Debutante-Futurity championship doubleheader for 2-year-olds.
Flavien Prat flies in to ride Brant, who was purchased for $3 million in March by Amr Zedan. Baffert will also have Balboa, Desert Gate and Litmus Test in the Futurity, while Doug O’Neill has the other two entries — Civil Liberty and Brigante.
Baffert is seeking a fifth straight Futurity victory and a record 19th since he claimed his first in 1995.
Smith credited Jill Baffert for his fourth Debutante victory and his 82nd stakes win at Del Mar.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been on Bottle of Rouge,” said Smith. “I never even worked her. I have to thank Jill. She told Bob he had to use me. She wouldn’t let up. She insisted. So, Bob put me on her.”
“The way the race set up, they were moving right along up front so it didn’t surprise me that’s the way we ended up finishing,” said Jimmy Barnes, Baffert’s assistant trainer. “They’re all lightly raced fillies. This was Bottle of Rouge’s third start, so that helps. We’re just very proud of her. And we’ll take a 1-2 finish any time.”
Said Smith: “About 150 yards out of the gate, she just seemed to lose her hind end for a little bit. But she recovered nicely and picked it up.”
Explora took the lead shortly after being bumped by Himika while leaving the gate and held the lead along the rail until passed by Bottle of Rouge in the stretch.
Gimme a Nother took the lead at the top of the stretch under Hernandez and held off Medoro, who ran right behind the winner the entire 1 1/8 miles.
“Juan had a plan and we said if somebody wants to go, just let them and just let her sit in there,” said Alice Clapham, Motion’s assistant trainer. “Gimme a Nother is very straight forward and easy to ride. And Hernandez did a great job. When she changed leads, I thought ‘Now she’s got them.’”
Said Hernandez: “Around the turn, Medoro was getting a little close to me. So I was just trying to get in good position and save ground. She took off at the quarter pole.”
In the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Dreaming of Alys was seventh and Pentle (Serafin Carmona) was last in the 11-horse field midway through the one-mile race. Both began their rallies on the far turn and took over deep in the stretch. Favored Yours Sincerely also rallied in the stretch but settled for fourth.
“Horses don’t read odds and neither do I,” said Herrera. “I just ride my horse with a lot of confidence. I felt like I had a lot of horse under me. After the finish, she didn’t show any signs of weakening. I was really excited that we were able to get the job done, especially with her odds being so big.”
Trainer Phil D’Amato moved Dreaming of Alys from the dirt to the turf after a sixth-place finish in the Aug. 10 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar.
Notable
Hernandez has clinched his fourth straight summer jockey title, while Baffert has clinched his second straight trainer’s championship. The pair has combined for 18 wins going into the final day.
• Trainer Michael McCarthy had three winners Saturday – Gathered ($5.40) in the first, Stark Contrast ($8.80) in the third and Aleramo ($11) in the fifth.
• To protect against a minus place and show pool, there will only be win betting for the Del Mar Futurity, although the race has six entries.
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