Drill wins the Del Mar Futurity and gives trained Bob Baffert his 10th score in the Futurity since 1996
Bad day for the 2-year-old colt, Majestic City, as he got disqualified from second position to third, because he interfered the run of the morning line favourite, Creative Cause. In the commotion, the Bob Baffert trained 2-year-old claimed the spoils after
handing his trainer the Grade 1 $250,000 Del Mar Futurity the 10th time in the last 16 runnings.
It was a contentious win for the son of Lawyer Ron, out of Cat Dancer by Storm Cat. Under jockey Martin Garcia, the colt appeared in only his third race and after a bumpy ride, coming into the stretch, he recovered well to take the field of 8 juvenile runners.
Del Mar Futurity was held at Del Mar’s synthetic surface, over a distance of seven furlongs on 7 September, 2011.
It was an all out affair, as all the runners looked to aim for the wire right from the outset.
However, the local favourite and unbeaten, Majestic City, under David Flores, veered to the right under severe left handed urging from his rider.
Majestic City’s quick maneuvering shut off the highly favoured and the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes' winner, Creative Cause, completely, which gave way to the Bob Baffert trained Drill, under Martin Garcia.
During the duel, Martin Garcia lost his whip, but he still managed to guide the colt and crossed the wire with a neck in front of Majestic City.
The 4 to 5 favourite to win the race, Creative Cause, was held back in the rally, as he managed to finish third, three quarters of a length back between Majestic City and the winner, Drill.
After a lengthy inquiry, which was set up immediately after the race, it was determined that Majestic City should be demoted and Creative Cause should be promoted to the second place.
Drill broke his maiden on 13 August, 2011, on dirt at Del Mar under a different jockey, R Bejarano, but did well on the synthetic surface, clocking seven furlongs in 1 minute and 22.16 seconds.
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