DEL MAR : Exetera Can Emulate Big Brother by Being on Target in Futurity

A victory by Exetera on Wednesday would keep the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity in the family.

On Target, Exetera’s full brother, won the Grade II race last year, beating Supremo and eventual 2-year-old champion Timber Country, among others, as the 2-1 favorite.

A son of Forty Niner out of the mare Hattab Gal, who also produced Sea Cadet, Exetera, bought for $625,000 a year ago at the Keeneland yearling sales, will not be the public choice on Del Mar’s 43rd and final program.

Cobra King is the even-money favorite to win for the third time in four starts in the seven-furlong Futurity.

Owned by Betty Biszantz and trained by Mike Pupye, Cobra King, a Farma Way colt, lost by a head in the Ladbroke Futurity at Golden Gate Fields in his debut, then came south.

After breaking his maiden by six lengths on July 30, Cobra King came back more than three weeks later and won the Balboa by 7 1/2 lengths, covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15 4/5.

It didn’t hurt Cobra King’s cause when he drew the outside post in the Balboa. Cavonnier is the only horse that will be outside him in the field of eight on Wednesday.

Like On Target, Exetera enters the Futurity off a maiden victory. Much-troubled in his first start on July 30, the race in which Cobra King graduated, Exetera had clear sailing when he won by three-quarters of a length on Aug. 20. Alex Solis, who is in a three-way race with Corey Nakatani and Chris McCarron for the jockey title, and who was On Target’s rider in 1994, will be aboard.

Exetera will be coupled in the betting with Future Quest, who broke his maiden by 5 1/2 lengths a week after his stablemate did. With Solis staying with Exetera, Kent Desormeaux will ride. The entry is the 6-1 fourth choice.

Aside from Northern Afleet, second to Cobra King in the Balboa, every other horse is coming into the Futurity off a victory. The rest of the field includes Monzon, Othello, Defleet and Cavonnier

A winner of two in a row at Santa Rosa and Bay Meadows, Cavonnier, supplemented to the Futurity for $10,000, will try to give owners Robert and Barbara Walter a sweep of Del Mar’s biggest races for 2-year-olds. Their Batroyale won the Debutante on Aug. 27.

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Beaten in his first three races locally after setting a world record at Turf Paradise in April, G Malleah scored an $18.80 upset Monday in winning the $61,275 Crazy Kid.

After running with favored Forest Gazelle through rapid fractions (21 3/5 and 43 4/5 seconds), the 4-year-old Arizona-bred gelding was able to find more through the stretch under Joey Castro and beat Finder’s Fortune by a length in 1:08 3/5 for the six furlongs.

G Malleah had run six furlongs in 1:06 3/5 to set the world record while winning the Grand Canyon Handicap.

Horse Racing Notes

Jockey Rene Douglas was given a three-day suspension by the stewards, beginning Thursday, for an incident in Sunday’s second race. Douglas rode Penal Code, who was disqualified from first and placed second for interfering with Marked Card. . . . There are two other minor stakes on the closing-day card. Turbulent Dancer is the 8-5 favorite against five other 3-year-olds in the El Cajon and Ventiquattrofogli is the 2-1 choice against seven opponents in the $65,000 Live The Dream. The El Cajon goes at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt and the Live The Dream is a mile on the turf. . . . Corey Nakatani was off his mounts Monday after pulling a groin muscle while working horses in the morning. Clinging to a one-winner lead over Chris McCarron and two ahead of Alex Solis, Nakatani hopes to be able to ride on Wednesday.