DEL MAR : 12 Juveniles in Running for Final-Day Futurity

A dozen juveniles are set to contest the traditional closing-day feature Wednesday at Del Mar, the Grade II Del Mar Futurity.

The Futurity, which this year will gross $345,600 and reward the winner with $233,100, will be run at a flat mile and includes a pair of entries in its lineup. Additionally, five of the runners were supplemented to the 2-year-old fixture at a cost of $10,000 each. Top weights for the Futurity, at 120 pounds, are Golden Eagle Farm’s Best Pal and Don Mathis’ Formal Dinner. Best Pal, winner of the Balboa Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 22, will be handled by the meet’s leading rider, Patrick Valenzuela. Gary Stevens has been named to ride Formal Dinner, winner of Saratoga’s Sanford Stakes on Aug. 15.

Here’s the full field for the 43rd edition of the Futurity in post-position order with their riders and weights: Running Total, 114 pounds, Julio Garcia; Arctic Deputy, 114, David Flores; Got To Fly, 114, Laffit Pincay Jr.; Pillaring, 114, Eddie Delahoussaye; Sunshine Machine, 114, Jose Santos; Regional, 114, Rafael Meza; Formal Dinner; Magnificent Red, 114, Chris McCarron; Best Pal; Bucking Bird, 114, Kent Desormeaux; Terrific Trip, 114, Russell Baze, and Southern Justice, 116, Alex Solis.

Running Total and Formal Dinner will race coupled as an entry, as will Best Pal and Magnificent Red. Bettors are likely to make one of the entries the favorite, with the Golden Eagle Farm pair given an edge because of their impressive local races.

Best Pal smartly won the Balboa by two lengths in the good time of 1:22 for seven furlongs. The gelding by Habitony had earlier won the I’m Smokin’ Stakes at the meet by seven lengths and finished second in Golden Gate’s Ladbrooke Futurity.

Magnificent Red is a son of Secretariat. He captured his lone start at Del Mar on Aug. 25 by two lengths with a six-furlong time of 1:10 4/5. Formal Dinner went wire-to-wire in capturing the Sanford. The son of Well Decorated covered six furlongs in 1:10 1/5 at the upstate New York track. He scored his maiden win at Churchill Downs on July 1, winning by nine lengths.

Running Total scored the first victory of his career here on Aug. 11 in his second start. The Raja Baba colt covered six furlongs in 1:10 3/5 that afternoon. Both Formal Dinner and Running Total are trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the nation’s leading trainer and who has won this race in three of its last seven runnings.

Both Bucking Bird and Terrific Trip are maidens. All the others in the lineup have won at least once.

The Futurity will complete what is expected to be another record-breaking season for the track, surpassing its record-breaking numbers from last year, when it led the country in daily average handle ($7,320,623) and finished second in daily average attendance (34,680).