Racing at Del Mar with Marc Doche: Cougar Friday after five-figure score

After knocking on the door on numerous occasions, a friendly result finally came our way thanks to a freakish debut runner from Bob Baffert that recovered from a dubious break from the gate to rally us home to over $17,000 in yesterday’s Pick-5.

Baffert takes center stage again tonight with Richard’s Kid the 4-to-5 favorite and 123-lb. high weight against five rivals in the $100,000 Cougar II Handicap (Grade III) over 1 ½-miles on the  main track in his final prep before trying to win next month’s Pacific Classic (Grade I) for the third time.

Making his 35^th career start, the 7-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid can inch within $15,000 of the $2 million mark in career earnings with a win.

Richard’s Kid ran third in the Cougar II before his second Pacific Classic triumph in 2010, which he followed up by winning the Goodwood (Grade I). He was then relocated to Dubai to point for the $10 million World Cup (Group I) after disappointing in his initial try in the world’s richest race. However, that plan proved to be a waste of time after five off the board finishes in Group races including another World Cup flop.

Back in Baffert’s astute hands, Richard’s Kid has fired a pair of big shots at Hollywood Park while winning an ungraded stakes by over seven lengths and missing to stable mate Game On Dude by just over a length in the Hollywood Gold Cup (Grade I).

Peru’s 2-year-old champion from last year, Fly Lexis Fly, is intriguing making his first U.S. start at 5-to-1. After winning a pair of Group 1’s in Peru by a combined 15 lengths to close last year’s campaign, including the Derby Nacional at this marathon distance, the Kentucky-bred son of Badge of Silver gets a stern test facing older runners off the long layoff.

Worth Repeating (10-to-1) and Dynamic Host (4-to-1) are also perfect at this marathon distance after each winning the Tokyo City (Grade III) at Santa Anita over the past two years. If Richard’s Kid flattens out, they could stay the distance to pull the upset.

We’re off to the races!

Leg 1 – Race 5 (1,8,9) – We’ll try a pair in the first off the claim for cagey connections with No. 1 Evening Island and No. 9 Circle Drive, along with No. 8 Trumpet Player Jay, who’s woken up in his last two and could get a favorable scenario on the front end.

Leg 2 – Race 6 (6,8) – No. 6 Diamond Duchess exits a pair of wins with her last one coming against the boys and No. 8 Camelia Rose tailed off after showing lots of promise, but can be back on top of her game after a brief freshening.

Leg 3 – Race 7 (ALL) – Value lies with beating Richard’s Kid and at this awkward distance funky things tend to happen so we’ll use all six runners.

Leg 4 – Race 8 (1,3,8,11) – A four-pack of Cal-bred maiden allowance sprinters to close the evening with No. 1 Askingfortrouble, No. 3 Slew’s Flash, No. 8 Broadway Nika and No. 11 Tribe.

Recap – (1,8,9) w (6,8) w (ALL) w (1,3,8,11) – Total cost of ticket = $72

Yesterday’s Result – (-$90)

Total for currentDelMar meet – (-$176.50)

Total from 12/26/10 – 7/15/12 – (-$1,571.15)

Pick 5 –

Leg 1 – Race 1 (3,4,5,7) – Four deep to kick things off with baby maiden claimers using No. 3 Manewal, No. 4 Confederate Recon, No. 5 Primed and Ready and No. 7 Disarm.

Leg 2 – Race 2 (1,7,8) – Let’s take a flier with No. 8 Sheskey returning to her favorite surface against a modest bunch to say the least. After a second and a third over this track previously, she broke her maiden by over two lengths here last summer and gets Edwin Maldanado for the first time today. He should suit her front-running style well and after being well backed at the windows while burning lots of money in her last four, she’ll likely be overlooked today meaning the price will be right.

Add the additional pair that owns a win over the track with No. 1 Huntington Harbour and No. 7 Katie’s Ten.

Leg 3 – Race 3 (1,6,7,8) – Use the trio that have had turf success with No. 6 Classic Bobby, No. 7 Grumpy Small Mouth and No. 8 D J Dave, along with No. 1 Night Wind in search of his third straight win.

Leg 4 – Race 4 (7,8,9) – A trio of class droppers with the new face in town No. 7 Speargun, No. 8 Bull Time and No. 9 Our Merv.

Leg 5 – Race 5 (1,8,9) – Same trio as the late Pick-4.

Recap – (3,4,5,7) w (1,7,8) w (1,6,7,8) w (7,8,9) w (1,8,9) – Total cost of ticket = $216

Yesterday’s Result – (+$17,070.65)

Total for current Del Mar meet – (+$16,441.45)

Total from 7/20/11 – 7/15/12 – (+$1,874.55)

Best Bet of the Day – Can now be found in the free analysis section at www.theracingedition.com along with an early Pick-4 ticket and a consensus box for the entire card.

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For more Del Mar action check out Jarrod Horak’s Pick 6 Blog.

Good luck!