Baffert Seeks Notable Win

Looking to win the $250,000 Del Mar Debutante for a fourth consecutive year, trainer Bob Baffert will send out 33% of the field today.

Successful with Vivid Angel, Excellent Meeting and Chilukki the last three years, Del Mar’s leading trainer will try for another win in the Grade I with Notable Career, the 8-5 morning line favorite, and Beauty And Style, a 12-1 shot.

Starting with his victory with Batroyale in 1995, Baffert has won four of the last five Debutantes and Notable Career gives him his best chance to add another.

Owned by John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm, the California-bred will be trying to make amends for a loss at 3-10 in the California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Assn. Stakes here July 28.

Three weeks after winning the Landaluce at Hollywood Park, Notable Career was upset by 9-1 shot Euro Empire, also in the Debutante, while racing between horses in an early three-way pace battle.

In the Debutante, Notable Career will start outside Euro Empire and there isn’t much other speed in the race. Her recent workouts suggest she will improve in her second start of the meet. Eleven days ago, she went six furlongs in 1:11 2/5, the best of 17 workouts at the distance that morning.

Euro Empire, another Cal-bred and the 5-2 second choice, will be looking for her third win in her last four starts for trainer Marcelo Polanco. She had a perfect outside trip in winning the CTBA, so it remains to be seen whether she can duplicate the performance. In the Landaluce, she was beaten by five lengths by Notable Career.

The other main contenders in the seven-furlong race are Give Praise and Sea Reel, the 1-2 finishers in last month’s Sorrento Stakes.

Five weeks after beating $62,500 maidens, Give Praise became a graded stakes winner in the Sorrento. An Ohio-bred, the gray filly sat off a fast pace, then drew away late and won by 3 1/2 lengths under Laffit Pincay Jr.

Owned in part by trainer Jim Chapman, Give Praise was supplemented into the Debutante for $10,000.

No worse than second in her three starts for the Running K Stable and trainer Caesar Dominguez, Sea Reel, who was also supplemented for $10,000, never threatened in the Sorrento or Landaluce. In her stakes debut at Hollywood Park, Sea Reel was four lengths behind Notable Career.

Besides Beauty And Style, who broke her maiden in her second start for Baffert on Aug. 6, the other Debutante starter is Cindy’s Hero, who has finished second in her first two races for trainer Dave Hofmans.

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Silic won’t be at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4 to defend his title in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. The 5-year-old son of Sillery has been sidelined by a bone chip in his left front ankle and it is possible his career is over.

Trained by Julio Canani for owners Terry Lanni, Ken Poslosky and Bernie Schiappa, Silic has won eight of 15 and earned more than $1.4 million in a career that began in France. In June, he won the Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile at Hollywood Park for the second consecutive year, again beating stablemate Ladies Din.

“We discovered it after he worked a few days ago,” Canani said of the bone chip. “I don’t know yet if he’s going to have surgery or he’s going to be retired. Everything should be decided in the next three or four days.”

Even without Silic, Canani probably will have a starter in the BC Mile. Plans call for Ladies Din, who beat eventual Arlington Million winner Chester House in the Eddie Read Handicap on July 30, to be supplemented into the race.

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Stormy Pick, a 9-2 shot, led most of the way and went on to beat 31-1 outsider Nasty Storm in winning the $200,000 Spinaway on Friday at Saratoga.

Owned by Raymond Dweck and trained by Ben Perkins Jr., the 2-year-old daughter of Storm Creek won for the fourth time in five starts, although the Grade I victory wasn’t visually impressive. En route to a final time of 1:24 1/5, the last furlong was negotiated in 14 seconds.

Horse Racing Notes

The Thoroughbred Owners of California will hold a workshop Sunday morning, 8:30-11, for people interested in becoming racehorse owners. Details: (858) 794-1018. . . . City Zip, a 2-year-old son of Carson City who has won three consecutive graded stakes for trainer Linda Rice, heads the field in today’s $200,000 Hopeful at Saratoga. A Grade I at seven furlongs, the Hopeful also attracted, among others, Yonaguska, Macho Uno, Scorpion, Evening Attire and One By The Knows. If City Zip wins, he will become the first horse to have swept the Sanford, Saratoga Special and Hopeful since Dehere in 1993 and only the fourth ever.

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who doesn’t have a starter in the Del Mar Debutante, has won the race a record nine times. His most recent win was with Sharp Cat in 1996. . . . I Wood Be A Winner, who was second behind Daring General in Wednesday’s fourth race, was claimed for a ninth consecutive time when tagged by trainer Bob Hess Jr. for owner Roddy Valente. . . . Gingerboy, who was claimed for $5,000 last Dec. 18 at Golden Gate Fields, ended a seven-race winning streak when he was fourth as the 3-5 favorite in the fifth race at Arlington Park on Friday. The 6-year-old gelding has earned close to $115,000 since being claimed.