Doug O'Neill has just secured a lifetime place on the Del Mar racing office Christmas card list. Were it not for O'Neill, who is about to win his seventh Del Mar training title, one of the signature events of the summer season would have suffered the ignominy of that dreaded public announcement: The race did not fill.
O'Neill entered a trio of 2-year-olds for the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity (G1) Sept. 6 at 7 furlongs on the main track. Dang Son and High Pronto carry the modern colors of Calumet Farm, while Phone Booth, a full brother to stakes winner Pavlovian, represents his breeder, Reddam Racing. All three have won races at the meet.
In almost any other context, a trainer with three swings at a grade 1 prize would indulge in a flight of hopeful fancy. Charlie Whittingham, after entering three in a major race for older runners, would announce, "I've got them surrounded."
O'Neill, however, is a pragmatic professional who understands that his three are, in this case, upstaged by the two Bob Baffert youngsters that complete the five-horse Futurity field.
Hughes, a $675,000 son of Into Mischief , ran away from Phone Booth to win the Best Pal Stakes (G3) Aug. 8 and did the same to High Pronto in a maiden race, while Domus, by Uncle Mo, easily dismissed Dang Son and others in a maiden event at the end of July.
Video: Best Pal S. (G3)
"I guess most people in a situation like this would be thinking they're running for third money," O'Neill said, resigned to his fate.
And yet, they've still got to leave the gate and make the course.
Baffert colts have won the Futurity 19 times since 1996, including the last five. The Hall of Fame trainer was odds-on to win another Futurity in 2019 with Eight Rings , a son of Empire Maker who had just won a maiden race by many. Alas, Eight Rings ducked left at the start, collided with another horse, and both riders went flying.
"That's why they line 'em up," O'Neill said.
The Baffert colts are no more or less daunting than any of the recent members of his traditional summertime onslaught.
Hughes is out of the Union Rags mare K P Dreamin, grade 1 stakes-placed twice for the Jeff Mullins stable as a 2-year-old and from the same female family as Go Between, winner of Del Mar's 2008 Pacific Classic Stakes (G1). Owned by a partnership that includes the Front Row Club managed by Tom Ryan, Hughes has shown the ability to rate at a good pace and finish strongly. Juan Hernandez returns from their Best Pal collaboration.
Domus, a homebred from Baoma Corp., put his maiden field away early and cruised home with seeming speed to spare. He has worked four times since, including a 5-furlong gate move in :58 4/5 Aug. 29 that should set him on tilt. His dam, the Orb mare Der Lu, is a half sister to the stakes-placed Baffert colt Buetane. Antonio Fresu rides.
O'Neill may be bringing a belt full of knives to a gunfight, but at least they are sharpened. Dang Son, a $250,000 yearling by Good Magic , comes out of a smart score at a mile on grass after a flop while sprinting on dirt. He was also entered in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes (G3T) Sept. 5.
"I don't think it was the turf that made the difference last time as much as it was the distance," O'Neill said. "I know we're coming back to dirt around one turn, but he's always been an impressive colt since he arrived in California. Hopefully, we'll see more of what he showed in his last race."
O'Neill thinks High Pronto, by Hightail , has the gas to at least keep the Baffert bombs occupied early.
"He's very precocious, the fastest out of the gate of our three," the trainer said. "And Phone Booth I thought ran a visually impressive race in the Best Pal, even though he was beaten a ways. As a full to Pavlovian, the seven-eighths can only help."
As part of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series, the Del Mar Futurity awards $30,000 to the winner, $15,000 to the runner-up, and $7,500 to the third-place finisher to apply toward entry fees for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Oct. 30 at Keeneland.
Del Mar, Sunday, September 6, 2026, Race 4Entries: Del Mar Futurity (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Phone Booth (CA) Umberto Rispoli 122 Doug F. O'Neill - 2 High Pronto (FL) Kazushi Kimura 120 Doug F. O'Neill - 3 Dang Son (KY) Emisael Jaramillo 122 Doug F. O'Neill - 4 Hughes (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 124 Bob Baffert - 5 Domus (KY) Antonio Fresu 124 Bob Baffert -
