DEL MAR : Futurity Is Right Now for Winning Pact

The painter who annually changes the racing colors on the jockey’s statue in the Del Mar paddock is out of a commission this year. The burgundy and gold of John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm will remain, since their Winning Pact scored a front-running 2 1/2-length victory in Wednesday’s $250,000 Del Mar Futurity.

John Mabee, board chairman at Del Mar, also won last year’s Futurity, with River Special. In fact, he and his wife have won the track’s swan-song race three of the last four years, with Best Pal rolling to victory in 1990.

River Special was a maiden when he won the Futurity, but he went off the the favorite as part of a Mabee entry because of two strong second-place finishes in his first two starts. Winning Pact was no maiden, but his victory was more startling because he had run only one race, beating maidens at Del Mar just over three weeks ago.

None of the six other starters in the seven-furlong Futurity had been as lightly raced. Winning Pact, the fifth betting choice, paid $20.40 to win, with the even-money favorite, Ramblin Guy, finishing second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Ferrara. The gap was 5 1/2 more lengths to Flying Sensation, in fourth place.

Winning Pact, a Mabee-bred son of Alydar and Six Months Long, a Northern Dancer mare, was timed in 1:22, coming home with no urging from Corey Nakatani’s whip after ran early fractions of :22 3/5, :45 2/5 and 1:09 2/5.

Winning Pact’s victory was also the 18th of the season for Gary Jones, giving him the Del Mar training title by two over Mike Mitchell. For Jones, it was his first Del Mar title since 1979. Farrell Jones, his father, won 11 titles here, including six in a row at the start of the 1960s.

Jones also trains Ferrara for actor Don Ameche. Nakatani had ridden both Winning Pact and Ferrara in their previous races, Ameche’s colt winning a maiden race on Aug. 14.

“I could have ridden either one, but I chose this one,” Nakatani said. “Winning Pact is more athletic. He’s just a better runner. In his first race, he drew the one hole and he didn’t break well that time, even though he still made the lead. Today I got him to relax and he did his running on his own.”

Winning Pact was a length ahead of Ramblin Guy, winner of the Hollywood Juvenile, midway down the backstretch, with Ferrara in close contention on the outside. Kent Desormeaux, aboard Ferrara, had Ramblin Guy and Eddie Delahoussaye trapped down on the inside, and on the turn for home, while Winning Pact was widening his lead, Ramblin Guy bounced off the fence.

“I think that if I was outside, it might have made a difference,” Delahoussaye said. “But then that’s horse racing. My horse is a little green, and it showed today.”

Jones trained both Six Months Long and another of her offspring, Half a Year, who earned $149,202.

“When I saw :45 2/5 (for a half-mile), I thought that was the key factor,” Jones said. “He had everything his own way. I told Nakatani and Desormeaux not to bother one another. They both broke sharp, and when I saw the fractions, I said to myself that this is sweet. The way the track’s been playing all meet, I knew if we broke sharp, we could control the race. I had no preference as to who got the lead. I said whoever breaks to go on, and the other to take back.”

Winning Pact raced on Lasix, the bleeders’ medication, for the first time.

“He bled in his workout the other day, but that’s not uncommon with horses down here,” Jones said.”

River Special won the Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita last year, and that could be the same route for Winning Pact as the Mabees consider a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, also at Santa Anita, on Nov. 6. The Norfolk is Oct. 10, at 1 1/16 miles.

“Winning Pact ran like he wants to go on,” Jones said, “but when you look at his body, he looks like a quarter horse. I know Ferrara wants to go on.”

Horse Racing Notes

Kent Desormeaux, winning his second consecutive Del Mar riding title, finished with 67 victories, one fewer than he had a year ago. Gary Stevens was second this year with 49. . . . In minor stakes on closing day, Adorydar, fourth in the Del Mar Oaks, won the Torrey Pines, and Miss King, claimed by trainer Bill Spawr for $50,000 two races ago, won the Sandcastle. . . . Pat Valenzuela, without a Futurity mount but scheduled to ride three others horses, was a no-show, telling stewards that he couldn’t get to the track because of a flat tire. . . . The last race of the meeting was won by 58-1 Expreso Brazil, who was 11th and ninth in other starts at the meet. The 6-year-old gelding gave jockey Pablo Santos and trainer A.C. Avila their only victories of the meet. . . . Favorites won 33% of the races, a drop of three points from last year.

Del Mar broke its North American record for average handle at a meeting, averaging $8 million for the 43-day season. The record of $7.8 million was set in 1990. . . . Despite the record, on- and off-track betting were down, 1.8% and 4.7%, respectively. The difference was made up with out-of-state betting, which averaged $1.5 million. . . . On-track attendance averaged 19,407, a drop of almost 2% at the facility, which underwent an $80-million remodeling. Overall attendance averaged 34,114, a drop of 4.8%.