Proletariat © Benoit Photo

Dutch Girl Holdings or Irving Ventures’ Proletariat, the stout 7-10 favorite in a field of eight 3-year-olds, dashed to the front out of the gate under Kyle Frey and then made every pole a winner en route to a handy length and a quarter victory in the Grade II Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby Sunday at the seaside oval. The bay ran the nine furlongs on turf in 1:47.66.

The gelded son of Ragin Bull had pulled off a similar scenario on Opening Day at Del Mar when he took the same wire-to-wire process to a galloping victory in the one mile Oceanside Stakes, again for Frey and Mullins. He was a five and three-quarters lengths victor that day.

Finishing second in the Del Mar Derby was Pegram or Pegram’s Bust Out, who had a length on third-place finisher Jordi Bear, who races in the silks of Glen Hill Farm, Little Feather Racing and partners.

The Derby carried a purse of $301,500 and rewarded the Proletariat connections with a first prize of $180,000, pushing their charges bankroll to $389,400. He paid $3.40 for $2 as a solid favorite.

Proletariat, who had shown some promise during his juvenile campaign when he won once and had three thirds, now is two-for-two as a soph. His connections point to the fact that he was gelded at the end of last year and has come back stronger and more willing to be a serious racehorse.

KYLE FREY (Proletariat, winner) – “Jeff (trainer Mullins) and I talked before the race. He said use your Plan A, unless something comes up. Then go to Plan B, whatever that is. It was Plan A all the way today. This is a nice horse; he’s very generous. And he’s getting better.”

JEFF MULLINS (Proletariat, winner) – “It looked like a replay of the last race, just a little bit farther. I could tell around the turn that Pavlovian wasn’t going anywhere. He was already pushing and Kyle (Frey) was still sitting. Kyle’s done a lot of work getting the horse to slow down in the mornings. Teaching him how to rate and settle and relax and go when it was time.” 

FRACTIONS:  :23.75  :47.87  1:12.05  1:35.85  1:47.66

The stakes win was the second of the meet for rider Frey (he won on Proletariat on Opening Day in the Oceanside Stakes.) He now has eight stakes wins at Del Mar. 

The stakes win was the second of the meet for Mullins (he won with Proletariat in the Opening Day Oceanside Stakes). It was also his second win the Del Mar Derby (Gabriel Charles, 2013). He now has 28 stakes wins at Del Mar. 

The winning owners are Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures.