He's Had Enough , who missed by a head winning the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) last month, and Nashua Stakes (gr. II) victor Violence square off against a quartet from the Bob Baffert barn in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (gr. I) Dec. 12 at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Eleven 2-year-olds are entered in what shapes up as a terrific running of the final major 2-year-old test of the year nationally. Contested at 1 1/16 miles on the Cushion Track, the CashCall Futurity is part of a program that includes the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. IIT). The Futurity is the ninth on the penultimate card of the 2012 autumn meet with a probable post time of 4:35 p.m. PST.
Baffert has won three of the past four CashCall Futurity renewals and has captured a record six overall (the race was previously known as the Hollywood Futurity). The Hall of Fame conditioner will be represented this year by stakes winners Den's Legacy , Carving , and Really Mr Greely , as well as Title Contender . Baffert decided to start all four colts after each worked extremely well Dec. 9 and 10 at Santa Anita Park.
Reddam Racing's He's Had Enough makes his Hollywood debut for trainer Doug O'Neill after nearly upsetting Shanghai Bobby at odds of nearly 20-1 in the Breeder's cup Juvenile Nov. 3 at Santa Anita. In spite of experiencing trouble on the turn for home when he was steadied and shuffled back, the gray/roan son of Tapit dueled impressively in deep stretch to just miss.
The effort was wholly unexpected considering He's Had Enough was coming off an 11th-place finish in the Dixiana Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) Oct. 6 at Keeneland. He's Had Enough comes into the CashCall with one win from four starts, the victory coming in his debut at Del Mar Aug. 12. The colt drew poorly for his first appearance since the Breeders' Cup, winding up on the rail. Mario Gutierrez retains the mount.
Black Rock Thoroughbreds' Violence, unbeaten in two starts, overcame some bumping in the stretch with runner-up Vegas No Show to prevail in the one-mile Nashua by two lengths at Aqueduct Racetrack Nov. 4. Todd Pletcher trains the $600,000 son of Medaglia d'Oro who debuted at Saratoga Race Course with a narrow win over Titletown Five Aug. 18.
Bred in Kentucky by Dell Ridge Farm, Violence is out of the winning Gone West mare Violent Beauty. The colt's third dam is champion older mare Sky Beauty. This will be the first try around two turns for the dark bay colt who breaks from post 6 with Javier Castellano aboard. Violence has been training at Belmont Park this winter.
The Baffert-trained Really Mr Greely was an impressive gate-to-wire winner of the seven-furlong Hollywood Prevue (gr. III) Nov. 22 at odds of 11-1, earning a 98 Beyer speed figure, the best in this year's Futurity field. Owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman, the son of Horse Greeley will need to answer the distance question this time, having never been longer than seven furlongs. The Kentucky-bred colt has won his past two starts and will be ridden for the first time by Mike Smith.
Westrock Stables' Den's Legacy is also a grade III winner after taking the one-mile Generous Stakes on turf in his most recent start Nov. 24 for Baffert. The most experienced runner in the Cashcall Futurity lineup, he has two wins and three seconds from seven starts, the last three on grass.
The Medaglia d'Oro colt was sixth over Hollywood's main track in his first start July 1 against maidens, though he has had success on synthetics, breaking his maiden on Polytrack Aug. 26. Red-hot Garrett Gomez, winning at a 31% clip at the Hollywood autumn meet, retains the ride.
Real Quiet Stakes winner Carving, owned by Baffert’s wife Jill and renowned skier Bode Miller, was supplemented to the race for a total cost of $30,000. The son of Any Given Saturday is a three-time victor from four starts and will be ridden by Martin Garcia.
Completing the Baffert contingent is Title Contender, making his Cushion Track debut after setting the pace and fading to finish eighth in the BC Juvenile. A son of the recently deceased Pulpit , Title Contender broke his maiden in front-running fashion prior to the Breeders' Cup in his second start.
Besides Violence, there is only one other shipper in this year's Futurity, Bluegrass Hall's recent maiden winner Oxbow . The son of Awesome Again is trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who won the first of his four Futurities with Stalwart in the inaugural running in 1981. Lukas also won the race with Tejano (1987), Grand Canyon (1989), and Tactical Cat (1998).
Oxbow, who drew the far outside post, will be ridden by Corey Nakatani, The bay colt graduated at Churchill Downs going seven furlongs Nov. 25 by 4 3/4 lengths while leading at every call.
Fury Kapcori , Dirty Swagg , and Simon Eyes , the 2-3-4 finishers in the Real Quiet, help make this a very deep group. Little Jerry , a debut maiden winner over the track and distance Nov. 18 for trainer Richard Baltas, completes the field.
$750,000 CashCall Futurity (gr. I, Race 9, 4:35 p.m.), 2YOs, 1 1/16 Miles (All Weather)
PP. Horse, Jockey, Trainer
1. He's Had Enough (KY), M Gutierrez, D F O'Neill
2. Den's Legacy (FL), G K Gomez, B Baffert
3. Dirty Swagg (KY), T Baze, M K Cho
4. Carving (KY), M Garcia, B Baffert
5. Fury Kapcori (KY), J Talamo, J Hollendorfer
6. Violence (KY), J Castellano, T A Pletcher
7. Simon Eyes (KY), V Espinoza, W A Ward
8. Really Mr Greely (KY), M E Smith, B Baffert
9. Title Contender (KY), R Bejarano, B Baffert
10. Little Jerry (KY), A T Gryder, R Baltas
11. Oxbow (KY), C S Nakatani, D W Lukas
All carry 121 pounds.