The Del Mar Futurity will headline Sunday’s 11-race programme at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, with the Grade I contest set to bring together a compact field of two-year-old colts over seven furlongs. The 79th running of the $300,000 feature will take place as Race 4, with post time scheduled for approximately 3 p.m. and the afternoon’s first race due off at 1:30 p.m.
The race will once again place Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert at the centre of the feature, as he will saddle Hughes and Domus in pursuit of a 20th victory in the prestigious juvenile contest. Baffert will enter the race with 19 previous wins, a record that will give his pair a significant place in the history of the seven-furlong event.
Hughes will represent Front Row Club, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables, et al, with Juan Hernandez named to ride. Domus, owned by Baoma Corp, will have Antonio Fresu aboard. The two Baffert-trained colts will form half of the quartet of leading connections heading into the Grade I feature.
The remaining three runners will all come from the stable of Doug O’Neill, Del Mar’s leading trainer for the 2026 meeting. Reddam Racing’s Phone Booth will join Calumet Farm’s High Pronto and Dang Son in the field, giving O’Neill three opportunities to challenge Baffert’s established record in the race.
Del Mar Futurity Takes Centre Stage in Sunday’s Programme
The Del Mar Futurity will also carry added significance as part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series. The series will connect Sunday’s Grade I contest with the $2 million Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which will be staged at Keeneland on Friday, October 30.
The winner of the Del Mar Futurity will earn a $30,000 award towards entry fees for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, while the runner-up will receive $15,000 and the third-placed finisher $7,500. The incentives will add another layer of importance to a race already regarded as one of the principal early-season tests for the division.
Sunday’s programme will also feature two further stakes races later in the afternoon. The $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes will bring together three-year-olds over one mile and will be contested as Race 8. A field of eight will be scheduled to line up for the contest, with the race expected to take place at approximately 5 p.m.
Race 9 will then feature the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, which will be contested over one mile on the turf for two-year-old fillies. Nine runners will be scheduled to take part, with the race expected to follow the Shared Belief Stakes by around 30 minutes.
With the Del Mar Futurity occupying the centre of the card, Sunday’s meeting will offer an important opportunity for several promising juveniles to strengthen their credentials on the graded-stakes stage. Baffert’s Hughes and Domus will arrive with the distinction of representing a trainer who has dominated the race historically, while O’Neill will have three runners seeking to disrupt that pattern.
The 79th running will therefore provide another significant chapter in the long history of the Del Mar Futurity, with the seven-furlong Grade I contest set to serve as the principal attraction on Del Mar’s next-to-last card.
The Del Mar Futurity will headline Sunday’s Del Mar card as a $300,000 Grade I contest over seven furlongs. Bob Baffert will saddle Hughes and Domus, while Doug O’Neill will be represented by Phone Booth, High Pronto and Dang Son. The race will form part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series, with the winner earning a $30,000 award towards Breeders’ Cup Juvenile entry fees.
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