Blameitonthelaw states Del Mar Futurity case

If Blameitonthelaw goes on to become an absolute star, we'll look back on the pleasing timing of his debut maiden conquest. The John Sadler pupil simply bolted up in a hot-looking 7TH race at Del Mar, a couple of hours after American Pharoah flaunted his superiority in the Haskell (G1).

Wouldn't it be fitting for the next champion to emerge in just this way, in the slipstream of American Pharoah? Racing fans and historians alike may hark back to Haskell Day 2015, and remember wistfully that Blameitonthelaw won on this date, as if anticipating the passing of the baton.

Before you rush to the comment box to say I've lost it, I know that I'm being unpardonably hasty. It's been a long day, it's late in the Bluegrass, and I'm swooning with the vapors and all.

But Blameitonthelaw did an awful lot right. He raced well within himself in third, just a length off a torrid opening quarter in :21.91. When Semper Fortis appeared poised to master his pace rival through a half in :46.30, Blameitonthelaw was advancing menacingly on the rail. He blew past Semper Fortis in midstretch and drew off by 4 1/4 lengths, telegraphing that there was more in reserve.

Semper Fortis, a Distorted Humor half-brother to Carpe Diem, kept on for second -- a full 14 lengths (not a typo) ahead of the rest. Had the Doug O'Neill juvenile turned up in any other maiden, he would probably have romped. He had the misfortune to bump into this one.

Blameitonthelaw motored his final sixteenth in 6.06 and clocked 1:04.40 for the 5 1/2 furlongs. He picked up readily off that demanding pace, not as a clunker who picks up the pieces, but as a stalker who showed good speed himself.

There were several well-bred prospects in this maiden, and Blameitonthelaw is one of them. Sire Blame strikes with 17% of his first-timers, despite his stamina-oriented pedigree and race record. Blameitonthelaw's female line is loaded with speed. His dam, the stakes-winning sprinter Letter of the Law, contributed a good dose of precocity herself. Dare I say he looks more like broodmare sire Stormy Atlantic, at least from my remote vantage point on TwinSpires video?

But his pedigree also features three crosses to the great matriarch *Rough Shod II (as noted with more details in my preview blog). That implementation of the Rasmussen Factor could be a genetic dynamo.

As a Del Mar Futurity (G1) nominee, Blameitonthelaw may take the next step in the Labor Day feature. Wherever he goes, watch for him.