Thursday, Sept. 9, 1999 | 11:03 a.m.
The 42-day race meet at Southern California's vacation spa, Del Mar, ended Wednesday with the traditional closing-day feature, the Del Mar Futurity. The 7-furlong Grade II event attracted five well-matched 2-year-olds for a pot of $250,000. The relatively small purse, in these days of seven-figure offerings, has been secondary in recent years to the impact this race has had on the early Kentucky Derby future book outlook.
Last year's winner, Worldly Manner, was quickly installed as the "one to beat" on the first Saturday of the following May. So impressive was his victory that the strapping Golden Eagle Farm color-bearer was purchased for $5 million soon after the win and hustled off to the Arabian desert. He returned for the Derby only to bomb in the bluegrass. 1997 winner Souvenir Copy soon became the 'hot Derby future' after his Del Mar score, but, he never even made the spring show in Kentucky.
However, in 1996, Silver Charm parlayed a Del Mar Futurity score into a Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes victory the following year. Much to the delight of Southern California racing writers who were gifted a future book wager on the Charm by Del Mar track management. The scribes were standing in line on Derby Sunday in Las Vegas cashing handsomely on the Del Mar discovery.
Trainer Bob Baffert closed out a record seaside season with his fourth consecutive Del Mar Futurity win when his Forest Camp came rolling home Wednesday. Baffert had the Futurity outnumbered with three of the five entered in the race.
But it was the Richard Mandella-trained Dixie Union who was favored to win this 52nd renewal. Undefeated in three starts that included a Hollywood Juvenile Championship, he was no match for the lightly-raced, but highly talented Forest Camp. The winner, by Deputy Minister, had just one race before his Graded win on Wednesday. On Aug. 2 at Del Mar, the Baffert charge stumbled at the start, was blocked on the far turn and had to wait an opening, then, like a veteran runner, the first-time runner blew between rivals as though they had been tied to the 1/8th pole to prevail in impressive fashion.
That maiden victory convinced the silver-haired conditioner he belonged with stablemates Captain Steve and Cameron Pass in the Futurity field. Owned by longtime horse-owner Arron U. Jones, Forest Camp could be the ticket to Louisville for the forestry industrialist. Forest Camp now joins the Del Mar Futurity legacy as the 'now' future book horse. His overwhelming victory in beating the previously undefeated Dixie Union and stablemate Captain Steve may be the first signs of the Silver Charm-like brilliance of 1996.
With the Del Mar Futurity win his final victory of the meet, Baffert ended the season on a high note as he captured the Del Mar trainer title with 27 wins. Although jockey David Flores was aboard Forest Camp for his Futurity victory, the leading rider added just one more win to his title total with a catch ride in the last race of the seaside season aboard Diablo's Express accounting for number 38.
Flores was a last-minute substitute for jockey Kent Desormeaux who suffered a broken wrist in a spill in the last race on the holiday Labor Day racing card. Desormeaux was thrown to the turf when his mount, The Key Rainbow, clipped heels with another horse during the stretch run and pitched the rider to the ground. Desormeaux broke two small bones in his right wrist and will be sidelined indefinately.
Depending on the healing process in the delicate joint area, the down time could be significant. Desormeaux is certain to still be grounded for this year's Breeders' Cup at Gulfstream Park on Nov. 6, where he was scheduled to ride several horses on the championship card.
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