Photo:

Eclipse Sportswire – edited

Getaway Car will be all dressed up and ready to go as the morning-line
favorite Sunday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity. It is a race that
his Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has won three years in a row and a record
17 times since 1996.

The 2-year-old bay will wear saddle cloth 1 and carry Del
Mar’s leading jockey Juan Hernández. It was a year ago next week when Getaway
Car walked into the ring with no name and hip tag 734 on the third day of the Keeneland
yearling sale.

Click here for Del Mar entries and results.

Tom Ryan, the managing partner of SF Racing, pulled the
trigger on a $700,000 bid that sent the son of Curlin out of the Morning Line
mare Surrender Now to Baffert’s Southern California stable.

What did Ryan see in the colt who would be named by his wife
Katie for a 2017 Taylor Swift song?

“Athleticism,” he said. “His one stride seemed to cover more
ground than an average horse in two strides. He just had that natural (look). Every
time he pushed off, he had great forward momentum. Classy horse. Pretty horse.
Quality horse. Athletic horse.”

Ryan’s assessment has manifested itself in what so far has
been a perfect Del Mar summer for Getaway Car. His style might as have been
foretold by Swift when she sang, “Should’ve known I’d be the first to leave.”

First came a 3 1/4-length debut win July 20 covering five
furlongs. Then came a 5 1/2-length runaway against only three challengers Aug.
11 in the six-furlong Best Pal (G3). The past performances show nothing but 1s.
Nothing but leads at every call in a pair of gate-to-wire victories.

“This guy’s been a lot of fun,” Baffert said right after the
Best Pal. “Great name, and he’s fast. He wasn’t slowing down. He’s got a
beautiful stride. Just a beautiful way of doing it. He’s by Curlin, and Curlins
usually get better with age. The good horses can get the distance.”

So comes a seven-furlong test on closing day of the Del Mar
summer meet. Baffert has three of the seven entrants in the Futurity field. Gaming,
the 7-2 second choice in the program, led most of his debut victory going 6 1/2
furlongs Aug. 11. Citizen Bull, who is 9-2, stalked the pace to win on his
first try racing 5 1/2 furlongs only three weeks ago.

Citizen Bull also is owned by the partnership led by SF
Racing. The Into Mischief colt was bought at an Ocala Breeders’ Sales auction
six months ago for $675,000.

“I love Citizen Bull,” Ryan said from Kentucky in a phone
interview for Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “I think
what he did in his maiden was very solid, very professional.”

SF Racing has become a force at the racetrack and in the sales
pavilions. Billionaire George Soros owns the operation that is managed from New
York by Australia native Gavin Murphy. Born in Ireland and based now in
Lexington, Ky., Ryan brings international savvy to his role in building a roster
of equine stars. SF has been a partner in the likes of 2018 Triple Crown
champion Justify and 2020 horse of the year Authentic.

Just last month, with bloodstock agent Donato Lanni making
sure the auction paddle was raised in timely fashion, SF Racing spent $3.4
million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale on four yearlings, most notably a Munnings
colt who cost $975,000.

Ryan, Baffert and Lanni all have keen eyes for horse flesh.
It is not a simple matter of declaring one to be the equivalent of an NFL
general manager, one as a coach and one as the senior scout.

“The process starts with a naked catalog,” Ryan said. “The catalog
is then dissected into horses that we would potentially buy, that we’re willing
to buy because they’re by X stallions. Then it works down into a physical sale.”

Other partners weigh in. They include Barbara Banke’s team
at Stonestreet Farms, Jack and Laurie Wolf from Starlight Stables and Sol Kumin’s
Madaket Stables.

“We hear input from quite a few people,” Ryan said. “Donato
and Bob will then whittle the next list. That list then will be presented to
our veterinarian Dr. Mike Hore. It works backward from there. Then it comes
down to what does Bob want to train. It’s not what do we want to send to Bob to
train. I’ve always wanted to have the trainer have a big input in what he
trains. That we he participates in the entire process, because at the end of
the day, Bob’s the one that has to train that horse on a daily basis and get him
to the point to the potential heights that we hope to get to.”

It will be a while before Getaway Car and Citizen Bull show
whether they measure up with past champions. It is quite the list, one that
inspires what might be an impertinent question. Who would be on SF Racing’s Mount
Rushmore?

“It’s a good question,” Ryan said “We were fortunate enough
to be a partner in Justify with WinStar. Justify is clearly to some degree
without compare. One, as a racehorse, he was incredible, but his influence
globally is extraordinary. He’s a horse that we are very proud of, and I think
he’s a horse that America should be very proud of. He’s done a lot for American
breeding on a global scale.”

That leaves three other places. At least three.

“I love National Treasure. I love Prince of Monaco. I love
Authentic. I love Newgate,” Ryan said. “We’ve been very, very fortunate to have
our fingerprints on quite a few animals. It’s hard to pick one, right? It’s
like your children. Hopefully, we need a bigger mountain.”