Coil , one of the top 3-year-olds in America last year but unraced since October, showed he hasn’t lost a step in the meantime with an authoritative victory in a $78,000 allowance/optional claiming race at Del Mar July 26 (VIDEO) .
With jockey Rafael Bejarano in the irons, Coil rallied from slightly off the pace to wear down the opposition in the stretch and win by a length in 1:22.39 going seven furlongs on the main track.
Mensa Heat, the only horse in the field entered for a claiming price ($100,000), closed well to be second, with Great Warrior third and Private Zone, the early pacesetter, fourth in the field of eight older Thoroughbreds. Comma to the Top was scratched to run in the July 29 Bing Crosby Stakes (gr. I).
Coil, a Florida-bred son of Point Given trained by Bob Baffert, won the $1 million Haskell Invitational (gr. I) at Monmouth Park as the highlight of his sophomore campaign last year, then went to the sidelines after finishing third against older horses in the Goodwood Handicap (gr. I).
Owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman, Coil went postward the 4-5 favorite on the basis of several fast recent workouts and returned $3.60, $2.80 and $2.20 after his fifth success in nine starts. Mensa Heat paid $5.40 and $3.80, while Great Warrior paid $4.20 to show.
Coil provided Bejarano with his third of four winners on the card. He won the opener on Ambitoness ($4), the fifth on the Baffert-conditioned Maker or Breaker ($5.40), and capped his day with Midnight Con ($6.80) in the eighth.
Bejarano’s quadruple vaulted him into a tie for the top spot in the jockey standings with Garrett Gomez, each with 13 wins thus far this summer. Gomez, who won three races July 25, was blanked July 26.