Jury Still Out in Bob Hope

The GIII Bob Hope S., Del Mar’s Saturday headliner, features seven 2-year-olds. Bob Baffert sends out two, the once-raced Dr. Dorr (Lookin At Lucky) with Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s Toews On Ice (Archarcharch) the more experienced of the duo with four starts under his belt. The Archarcharch colt broke his maiden at third asking in the restricted Barretts Juvenile S. at Los Alamitos Sept. 20 before doubling up in the Speakeasy S. at Santa Anita, defeating Norman Stables and Cory Wagner’s Street Vision (Street Sense) by 4 1/2 lengths Oct. 18. The latter ran a field-best Beyer Speed Figure of 87 when earning his diploma in start number two at Santa Anita Sept. 27. Baffert’s other entrant Dr. Dorr, who races for Baffert’s wife Jill, landed a six-panel maiden in stalking fashion in Arcadia Oct. 10.

Also worthy of a long look is Jury (Tale of the Cat), an Oct. 24 debut winner at Santa Anita who will be saddled by part-owner and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer. Hollendorfer is also in on I’malreadythere (Crown of Thorns), runner-up in the Zuma Beach S. going a grassy mile at Santa Anita Oct. 10.

Arnold Zetcher’s On Fire (Friesan Fire) reported home third to the high-quality subsequent GII Saratoga Special S. hero and GISP Exaggerator (Curlin) when unveiled for trainer Simon Callaghan July 25, but rebounded to break his maiden with a gritty display going a mile here Aug. 26 prior to an eighth-place run in his only previous graded-stakes attempt in Santa Anita’s GI FrontRunner S. Sept. 26.

The relatively unheralded surprise first-out winner Mac Daddy Mac (Put It Back) will debut for new connections Saturday. The 19-1 shot forgot to stop when loose on the lead in Arcadia Oct. 24 for Wounded Warrior Stables and trainer Jack Carava, but will represent the same owner/trainer/jockey combo as 2013 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic hero Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno), racing in the silks of Dean Reeves, trained by Kathy Ritvo and Hall of Famer Gary Stevens will be in the irons. Mac Daddy Mac breezed a half-mile in a sharp :47 4/5 (7/20) at Del Mar in preparation Nov. 7.

“A bloodstock agent brought him to the attention of Mr. Reeves and me,” commented Ritvo Friday. “We watched the tapes, liked him a lot, loved the way he finished his first race, and the deal was made. Since we got him and I came out [to Del Mar] to train him he’s done all the right things. He’s really smart, well put together, has a very strong body and he looks to be a very happy horse who loves what he’s doing. I’ll let Gary Stevens take care of [race strategy]. We had him come out to work the colt and make sure we were doing the right thing putting him in this race. All the answers were yes.”