American Pharoah wins Del Mar Futurity

On the final day of the 36-day Del Mar summer meeting, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert won the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity for a record 12th time, unleashing his promising 2-year-old, American Pharoah, who romped to a 4 3/4-length victory under jockey Victor Espinoza.

Espinoza won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes riding California Chrome, and who knows what happens in the future with American Pharoah, a son of Pioneerof The Nile, whose time in Wednesday’s seven-furlong race was a sizzling 1 minute 21.48 seconds. Calculator finished second and Iron Fist third.

American Pharoah had been considered Baffert’s most promising 2-year-old until he finished fifth in his debut last month in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race. This time, he broke from the No. 1 spot, took the lead immediately and never looked back.

Del Mar’s meeting started with concern about the safety of the new turf course after a run of horse injuries (there were 16 fatalities during the meeting). Following increased maintenance, the turf course seemed to settle in without incident.

Rafael Bejarano won the riding title, and Peter Miller and Jerry Hollendorfer tied for the training title.

Del Mar will hold an autumn meeting beginning Nov. 7 for 15 racing days, taking over dates formerly held by Hollywood Park. The last time Del Mar had a meeting in the fall was in 1967.

Los Alamitos will begin an 11-day thoroughbred meeting Friday. There will be eight stakes worth $775,000 before the meeting ends Sept. 21. The top feature will be the $200,000 Los Alamitos Mile on Saturday.