Hughes © Benoit Photo

Just take this fact in for a half a minute: There is a horse trainer who has won a particular horse race 19 times. Now realize further that that race isn’t just any, old one: It is and has been – for the majority of its existence – one of racing’s best – a Grade I offering. Finally, realize that that trainer will be sending out not one, but two, colts Sunday in that same race that appear very, very likely to take down the prize once again. So, we know it is horse racing, of course, but the odds say you can all but make book on it being 20 in a row….

Bob Baffert, he of the Hall of Fame, is the conditioner who qualifies for all of the above. And this Sunday he’ll saddle Hughes and Domus for the 79th running of the $300,000, Grade I Del Mar Futurity. Hughes, who runs for Front Row Club, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables, et al, is 4/5 in the seven-furlong Futurity line. Stablemate Domus, who carries the silks of Baoma Corp, is next at 7/5. Top reinsmen Juan Hernandez (Hughes) and Antonio Fresu (Domus) will be doing the riding.

There are just three others in the lineup, all conditioned by Del Mar’s 2026 leading trainer Doug O’Neill. They would be Reddam Racing’s Phone Booth and the Calumet Farm pair of High Pronto and Dang Son.

The Futurity goes as Race 4 on Sunday’s 11-race card. Post time for the big one is approximately 3 p.m.

The race is part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series, which means there are bonus fees for the first three finishers tied to the $2-million, Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which will be run Friday, October 30 at Keeneland. The first-place finisher earns a $30,000 award toward entry fees for the big race, while second place is worth $15,000 and third is good for $7,500 toward the championship test in Kentucky.

Also on Del Mar’s next-to-last card are two other stakes offerings. The first is the $125,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at one mile. It has drawn a field of eight and will go as Race 8 on the afternoon. Following it as Race 9 is the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf for (as the name tells you) 2-year-old fillies at a mile on the turf. Nine are scheduled to compete there.

The Shared Belief should go off at about 5 p.m., while the Juvenile Fillies should follow a half hour later.

First post on the weekend is 1:30 p.m.