Del Mar Futurity (gr. I)
(gr. I , 7f ,)
MIDSHIPMAN
(CH h,
117
lb) $150,000
Unbridled's Song —Fleet Lady , by
Avenue of Flags
B—Stonerside Stable,
KY.;
O—Stonerside Stable;
T—Bob Baffert
Coronet of a Baron
(CH h,
118
lb) $50,000
Pure Prize —Time for a Crown , by
Time for a Change
B—Hannah Poremba,
FL.;
O—Darley Stable;
T—Eoin G. Harty
Street Hero
(B h,
116
lb) $30,000
Street Cry (IRE) —Squall Linda , by
Summer Squall
B—Cho Myung Kwon,
KY.;
O—Myung Kwon Cho;
T—Myung Kwon Cho
Margins: nose, ¾, ½. Others: Southern Exchange 123($15,000) , Believe in Hope 117($5,000) , Escalon 117 , Blazing Spirit 116 , Wild Wild Posse 117 , Kerwin's Way 115 , Kelly Leak 117 , Mensa Heat 115 . Winning Jockey, Tyler Baze.
Timing is everything, and Midshipman picked an interesting time to become a graded stakes winner as he held off Coronet of a Baron by a nose to win the Sept. 3 Del Mar Futurity (gr. I).
A 2-year-old colt by UnbridledÕs Song, Midshipman races as a homebred for Robert and Janice McNairÕs Stonerside Stable. He became the 13th grade/group I winner campaigned by Stonerside, alone or in partnership. Two days before MidshipmanÕs victory, the stable announced it had been sold to Sheikh MohammedÕs Darley, which owns Coronet of a Baron.
Midshipman, along with all but one of the Stonerside Stable runners, will soon join the Darley team. Included in the transaction will be approximately 80 horses in training, plus another 170 or so broodmares, yearlings and weanlings, as well as the 2,000-acre farm near Paris, Ky., and the training center in Aiken, S.C., which is where Midshipman got his early training.
The race also marked an important milestone for MidshipmanÕs trainer, Bob Baffert. The stakes win was his 80th overall at Del Mar, the most by any trainer, and the eighth time he has won the Futurity.
Midshipman is out of the grade II-winning Avenue of Flags mare Fleet Lady. The talented racemare was campaigned by her breeder, the Mabee familyÕs Golden Eagle Farm, but has been owned by the McNairs for the entirety of her broodmare career.
The first foal out of Fleet Lady, Fast Cookie, was a grade II winner and is part of the Stonerside broodmare band. She is in foal to Smart Strike. Another one of Fleet LadyÕs daughters, Surf Song, is also at Stonerside and is in foal to More Than Ready.
Fleet Lady has a yearling colt by Ghostzapper and delivered a Distorted Humor filly May 3. She is in foal to Empire Maker.
UnbridledÕs Song is the sire of 71 stakes winners. Among his 12 additional added-money winners this year are graded stakes winners First Defence (gr. I), Eight Belles (gr. II), Thorn Song (gr. IIT), Honest Man (gr. III), and Noonmark (gr. III). The 15-year-old son of Unbridled stood the 2008 season at the Taylor familyÕs Taylor Made Farm near Nicholasville, Ky., for a fee of $150,000.ÑA.H.D.
