Graduation Stakes Marred by Fatal Breakdown of Favorite

DEL MAR —  In a race marred by a fatal breakdown of favored Goodtimesinexcess, the 2-1 second choice, Royal Irish, rallied to win the $150,000 Graduation Stakes Wednesday.

Goodtimesinexcess, the 7-5 favorite in the field of seven 2-year-olds, was running second to Ditka around the far turn when he was pulled up by jockey David Flores.

Owned by Mike Pegram and trained by Bob Baffert, Goodtimesinexcess suffered a broken left foreleg and had to be euthanized.

The death of Goodtimesinexcess was the first of the six-day-old Del Mar meet, which is being run over a newly rebuilt track. A year ago, during the first 20 racing days, nine horses suffered fatal injuries, either in races or during training. Three other horses died during the rest of the meeting.

“I just don’t know what went wrong,” Flores said. “He was just breezing. I had him on a long hold and we were outside staying away from [Ditka]. He changed leads just right at the three-eighths pole, then he took a bad step.”

Royal Irish won by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:10 1/5 for the six furlongs. Suspicious Minds, a 10-1 shot, finished second ahead of Ditka, a 20-1 shot.