BEST PAL S. (G2), 8TH-DMR,

PP HORSE TRAINER JOCKEY WT
1 CAPTAIN STEEL MULLINS JEFF POTTS C L 117
2 S. S. STONE O'NEILL DOUG GOMEZ G K 117
3 MIGUEL'S MASCOT KRULJAC J ERIC FLORES D R 123
4 FU PEG HE RAT SISE CLIFFORD JR BAZE T C 117
5 CORONET OF A BARON HARTY EOIN NAKATANI C S 117
6 FIERY REBEL KNAPP STEVE GARCIA MARTIN 117
7 TURBO CALL SOLIS WALTHER GARCIA J A 117
8 CHARLIE'S MOMENT SOLIS WALTHER COURT J K 117
9 AZUL LEON O'NEILL DOUG BEJARANO R 123
10 KELLY LEAK MACHOWSKY MICHAEL ESPINOZA V 117

AZUL LEON (Lion Heart) looks like a prohibitive favorite over his nine rivals in Sunday's $150,000 Best Pal S. (G2). A four-length winner of the Hollywood Juvenile Championship S. (G3), the Doug O'Neill-trained colt will attempt to extend his perfect mark to three-for-three, but we'll try to beat him with KELLY LEAK (Runaway Groom).

A visually impressive debut winner at Hollywood Park on June 5, Kelly Leak rallied from just off the pace to win going away by 1 1/4 lengths, registering a 91 Speed and 96 Late Pace number for the effort, and should appreciate the stretch out to 6 1/2 furlongs off that five-furlong event. The Florida-bred colt appears to be training superbly at Del Mar for Michael Machowsky, recording a pair of recent six-furlong drills over the Polytrack, and jockey Victor Espinoza will be able to dictate his trip from post 10. We'll look for him to keep improving with another strong showing from off the pace on Sunday.

CAPTAIN STEEL (Hennessy) is a dangerous wire-to-wire threat. Trained by Jeff Mullins, the chestnut colt rolled to a 7 1/4-length maiden special weight victory last out in his second lifetime start and shows a sharp five-furlong drill over the Polytrack in preparation for this outing. The rail draw will force hand -- Clinton Potts will be sending him from the start -- and Captain Steel might not stop on the front end.

Azul Leon didn't finish very fast last time (87 Speed rating) and beat a very questionable group in the Hollywood Juvenile Championship. He still looked good doing it and remains eligible to keep improving for O'Neill, but we feel the bay colt will be an underlay at short odds. We'll let him prove us wrong.

CORONET OF A BARON (Pure Prize) exits a maiden special weight win over the Polytrack at Arlington Park, but he got away with an easy early lead last time and will have to change tactics here. The Darley colorbearer does appear to be training well for this start, so dismiss him from the top three at your own risk.

S. S. STONE (Birdstone) rallied late for a sharp score last time in his career bow, and the uncoupled O'Neill runner will pick up the services of Garrett Gomez here. The gray colt looks capable of making impact in the stretch run, so consider for the bottom of the exotics.

FU PEG HE RAT (Fusaichi Pegasus) closed boldly to break his maiden earlier in the meet, and his affinity for the track is an advantage. However, he didn't beat the strongest company and registered only an 84 Speed rating, so we'll give him a race against winners. CHARLIE'S MOMENT (Indian Charlie) got up to win by a nose last time at long odds, but he may not be able to duplicate that performance at this level.

MIGUEL'S MASCOT (Marino Marini) steps up off a maiden win over California-breds and will have to tote 123 pounds. TURBO CALL (Nineeleven) could find this class hike too difficult. Maiden FIERY REBEL (Smoke Glacken) doesn't look good enough to challenge.

1st-KELLY LEAK
2nd-CAPTAIN STEEL
3rd-AZUL LEON
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