Creative Cause and I’ll Have Another, the 1-2 finishers in Sunday’s Best Pal
Stakes, have recovered well since the race and are being pointed to the
$250,000, Grade I Del Mar Futurity on closing day, September 7.
Mike
Harrington said that Creative Cause, a 1 ¾-length winner in 1:15.62 for
6 ½ furlongs – the fastest running of the race since Del Mar switched
to Polytrack in 2007 – came out of the race “great.”
Creative
Cause, who was given an ultra-impressive 98 Beyer Speed Figure off his
debut win at Hollywood Park, was accorded an 88 for the Best Pal,
Harrington said.
“We were a little disappointed because we thought
that was a pretty fast race,” Harrington said. “But we got the money
and that’s what counts.”
Doug O’Neill-trained I’ll Have Another also exited the race well.
“We’re
pretty happy with the race he ran,” said O’Neill assistant Leandro
Mora. “But we’re going to have to come up with a different plan if that
winner keeps running the way he did.”
Another Futurity candidate,
Hollywood Juvenile winner Majestic City, worked five furlongs on Monday
in 1:01.60 for trainer Peter Miller.