Saturday's $750,000 CashCall Futurity is Wide Open

Rob Gregorka

Las Vegas, NV -- The last big money race of the year takes place on Saturday with the $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. The race should give us an idea of the early favorites for next year's Kentucky Derby.

A very competitive field of 13 is expected on Saturday for the CashCall Futurity which is the 9th race on a 10-race card at Hollywood Park. It should be a great horse betting race with seven of the 13 horses listed at 10-1 or less on the morning line. The CashCall Futurity, known as the Hollywood Futurity before 2007, has been a proving ground for Triple Crown horses as 11 horses running in the race went on to win Triple Crown races including Lookin at Lucky.

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One of the favorites at OffTrackBetting.com for Saturday is Majestic City for trainer Peter Miller. The horse is coming off a troubled effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf which was the only bad start in his career.

Miller chalked it up to a bad turf course and the fact that Majestic City was not doing well leading up the race. "He's got a ton of ability and a lot of heart," Miller said. "I never go looking for excuses, so as far as I'm concerned he just got beat at the Breeders' Cup and that's it. He will have no excuses for the Futurity."

Top jockey Ramon Dominguez is coming in to ride Majestic City for the first time. Miller is trying to win the CashCall Futurity for the second straight year as last year he had Comma to the Top.

"He's being dismissed by a lot of people, but at their own peril," Miller said about Majestic City. "He's three-for-three here, training like a beast, and gets the leading rider in the country."

Bob Baffert will send three horses on Saturday as he looks to win this race for the sixth time. His list of winners is impressive with Real Quiet, Captain Steve, Point Given, Pioneer of the Nile and Lookin At Lucky.

"This is when you start thinking of the Kentucky Derby," Baffert said. Baffert will send Drill, Liaison and Sky Kingdom. Drill is the morning line favorite on Saturday at 9-2 but he is not in good form having finished 10th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and seventh in the Delta Downs Jackpot.

Jockey Martin Garcia still believes in Drill and Garcia gave up the mount on Sky Kingdom to ride Drill. With Garcia on Drill, Baffert decided to go with Garrett Gomez on Sky Kingdom. With so many horses in the hunt, make sure you're getting the best rebate you can with your bet at OffTrackBetting.com.

The field for the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (G1), Post Time: 4:37 PT Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Post

Horse

Trainer

Jockey

ML Odds

1

Handsome Mike

D. O'Neill

C. Nakatani

12-1

2

Brother Francis

J. Cassidy

V. Espinoza

10-1

3

Groovin' Solo

M. Cho

A. Quinonez

99-1

4

Empire Way

M. Harrington

J. Rosario

30-1

5

Drill

B. Baffert

M. Garcia

9-2

6

Sky Kingdom

B. Baffert

G. Gomez

6-1

7

Blingo

J. Shirreffs

M. Smith

8-1

8

Rousing Sermon

J. Hollendorfer

J. Talamo

10-1

9

Liason

B. Baffert

R. Bejarano

5-1

10

Cozzetti

D. Romans

J. Leparoux

12-1

11

Majestic City

P. Miller

R. Dominguez

5-1

12

Basmati

D. O'Neill

H. Berrios

12-1

13

Desormais

P. Gallagher

D. Flores

30-1