It should be no shock that the path to glory in the GIII Best Pal S. will pass through the barn of Bob Baffert at Del Mar Sunday afternoon. He'll bring back a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in $2m OBS March sales topper Muth (Good Magic) and $950,000 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Sale grad Prince of Monaco (Speightstown). Both colts impressed in their lone prior starts–Muth earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in his gate-to-wire 8 3/4-length blowout at Santa Anita June 18 while Prince of Monaco rolled home by eight in almost an identical time for five furlongs at Los Alamitos July 9.
The only other entry in this five-horse field given any sort of respect on the morning line is Tranche (Collected) for trainer Luis Mendez. While it took him three tries to break his maiden, he graduated in stakes company when taking the Fasig-Tipton Futurity S. by 7 1/4 lengths in gate-to-wire fashion at Santa Anita June 17.
Doug O'Neill's Raging Torrent (Maximus Mischief) is the only runner in the bunch to have a win over the Del Mar surface. He took his maiden race by 2 1/4 lengths on debut July 23 for owners Great Friends Stables and Mark Davis.
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