Prat and Baffert quite stakes pair at Del Mar

Anytime a juvenile race shows up on the Del Mar program, you can almost rest assured that trainer Bob Baffert will have a horse in the field.

This weekend’s two features are both for 2-year-olds. And Baffert is saddling half the 10 horses entered … and possibly five of the nine.

Baffert’s Eda, the 2-5 favorite under Flavien Prat in the five-filly field, won Saturday’s feature — the 6½-furlong $100,000 Dezi Arnaz Stakes.

And Baffert will have at least 60 percent of the entries in today’s Grade III Bob Hope stakes with the trio also being the three morning-line favorites — Winning Map (7-5), Messier (8-5) and Kamui (5-2).

Last weekend, the Baffert-trained Corniche won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. And at the end of the summer meeting, Baffert’s Pinehurst won the Del Mar Futurity and Grace Adler won the Del Mar Debutante — extending the trainer’s domination in those two races.

Eda ($2.40) pulled away under Prat in the stretch Saturday to score a 4¼-length win over the Doug O’Neill-trained Tonitos. Baffert’s Under the Stars was third. Second-choice Lady T veered toward the rail from the inside post just after the start, quickly fell far behind and finished fourth.

The win was Eda’s second straight. The daughter of Munnings also finished 2¼-lengths ahead of Lady T in the Anaokia Stakes at Santa Anita last month

On Aug. 6, Eda ran second to Elm Drive in the 6-furlong, Grade II Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. She then entered the Grade I Del Mar Debutante as the 6-5 favorite. But an early speed duel with Elm Drive drained both, opening the door for Grace Adler. Eda finished fifth in the Debutante.

“Eda and Elm Drive went so fast in the Debutante that everything fell apart,” said Baffert. “It happens.

“Actually, Prat felt this (the Arnaz) was the best race Eda has run. I loved the way she was able to relax and kicked away clear,” said Baffert of Eda, who took over the lead just after the midpoint of the race.

“It was kind of a last-minute decision to run Eda here because we also plan to run her back in the Starlet. Prat doesn’t say much, but he was really impressed with her.”

“She broke well and had good speed,” Prat said of Eda. “When we turned for home and (Tonito’s) came up outside us, I shook her up and she responded with a good kick.”

Saturday’s victory was Prat’s 75th stakes win at Del Mar, the 10th-highest total in track history. It was also Baffert’s 145th stakes win at Del Mar, extending his track record.

Prat and Baffert will be at it again today with Messier. Mike Smith will be aboard Winning Map with Abel Cedillo on Kamui.

“I hate to run all of them together, but they are all doing well and deserve a shot,” said Baffert.

The Richard Mandella-trained Forbidden Kingdom (Juan Hernandez) and the Walther Solis-trained Rock N Rye are also in the Hope, although Solis has said he could scratch Rock N Rye from the Hope in favor of running in a later Cal-bred stakes.

Winning Map won his debut at Santa Anita on Oct. 3. Messier scored a 6½-length win at Santa Anita on Oct. 22. Both won at 6 furlongs with the identical time of 1:10.20. Kamui and Forbidden Kingdom each has a win in two starts.

Notable

Juan Hernandez entered Saturday with only two wins in his first 24 mounts in the fall meeting. Then he scored three straight wins in the fourth (Arham, $6.40), fifth (Issa Court, $7.60) and sixth (Kid Corleone, $31.20). Hernandez, who also had a second and third Saturday, moved into a third-place tie in the jockey standings.

Eda was Prat’s lone winner Saturday, giving him a high of nine wins for the season. Prat, who was on four second-place finishers Saturday, has accepted a three-day suspension for next weekend (Nov. 19-21).

On her last day as an apprentice jockey, Jessica Pyfer, with a strong stretch ride, won aboard 50-1 long shot Primer Dimer in the third race.

Baffert leads the trainer standings with five wins to four for O’Neill and Phil D’Amato.

Center is a freelance writer.