Purely Cozzene sets a stakes record of 1:41.50 to take the La Jolla Handicap, Tranquility Lake wins the Palomar Handicap, and Love That Red wins the Pat O'Brien Handicap

Trainer Bob Baffert said it best about his La Jolla Handicap (G3) winner Purely Cozzene on August 19 at Del Mar: "He's just a very fast horse."

La Jolla H. (G3)
Del Mar, August 19, $150,000, 11/16 miles, turf, firm, 1:41.50
1-PURELY COZZENE, c. 3, Cozzene-Purer Than Pure, by Turkoman.
2-Duke of Green (GB), c. 3, Warning (GB)-=Wild Pavane (GB), by Dancing Brave.
3-Sign of Hope (GB), g. 3, Selkirk-=Rainbow's End (GB), by =My Swallow (GB).

And so he is, winning in the easiest way by three lengths and setting a stakes record of 1:41.50. The previous record was 1:41 3/5, set by Perfecting in 1988 and equaled in '92 by Blacksburg.

Taking the lead shortly after the break, Purely Cozzene, owned by Ed and Natalie Friendly, got into his fluid stride and opened up by as much as five lengths as he seemed to gallop away from the field.

He was alone most of the way down the backstretch with a comfortable lead and, when Duke of Green (GB) chose to step up and challenge him on the turn for home, the big chestnut colt strode out and found more for a scintillating run down the stretch to the wire.

Duke of Green, the favorite at 1.70-to-1 for owners Robert and Beverly Lewis and trainer Ron McAnally, finished second, a length in front of Sign of Hope (GB).

The winner was sailing along, cutting out fractions of :23.56 for the first quarter, :46.91 for the half, six furlongs in 1:10.52, and a mile in 1:35.13 en route to the final record time on the firm turf course.

"He's a big, free-running colt," Baffert said. "You can't fight him once he gets into that long, fluid motion of his. You just have to let him run. It's not that nobody went with him, nobody can keep up with him. If you go with him, you're not going to be around (at the end). He looked relaxed out there; he's just a very fast horse.

"I'd love for him to learn how to relax. Then he could really kick. But he just wants to go."

That is exactly what jockey David Flores let him do-according to plan. "Bob said not to try to rate him too much; to let him do his thing," Flores said. "So I just let him do what he wants to do. I got him to relax the first part of it, then when I loosened the reins on the backside, he really picked it up. "He was a runner today, and it is a treat to ride a horse like this."

The victory for Flores was his third of four for the day. In the winner's circle following the presentation, a joyous Ed Friendly was already thinking big, even saying he thought the winner would look great running 1 1/2 miles in the Breeders' Cup (Turf [G1]).

Baffert would not go that far, but he was enthusiastic enough to say that he believes the colt got his ticket punched for the Del Mar Derby (G2), at 11Ú8 miles on turf on September 10.

"I think the way he ran, he earned a chance at the Del Mar Derby," Baffert said. "Of course, he'll need to keep training as well as he has. He loves this turf course and he's been working brilliantly over it. I was expecting this kind of run from him."

Tranquility Lake serene

First to the lead and first to the finish was the story line for Tranquility Lake as she established herself as one of the top grass fillies or mares in the West with a 2 1/2-length victory in the 47th running of the Palomar Handicap (G3) on August 16.

Palomar H. (G3)
Del Mar, August 16, $136,950, 11/16 miles, turf, firm, 1:41.01
1-TRANQUILITY LAKE, m. 5, Rahy-Winters' Love, by Danzig.
2-Tout Charmant, f. 4, Slewvescent-Charm a Gendarme, by Batonnier.
3-Miss of Wales (Chi), m. 5, Roy-Nakora Bistraya, by Robellino.

The five-year-old daughter of Rahy set a sharp pace all the way in the 1 1/16-mile race, dug down for extra gas at the quarter pole, and sprinted away to an easy win over the classy field of distaff grass runners. Her time of 1:41.01 shaved a fifth of a second off the stakes record set last year by Happyanunoit. Tranquility Lake earned $82,170 for the win.

Finishing second was Tout Charmant and 1 1/2 lengths farther back in third was Miss of Wales (Chi).

Trainer Julio Canani was fairly rhapsodic over the performance. "Believe me, this is as good as any mare is in the country," Canani said. "When this mare is right, just forget it."

Canani, concerned about the mare's failures late last year, has been taking his time with Tranquility Lake. "Last year," he said, "I ran her three times too many. I started early with her, and actually I cooked her the second part of the year. I've started her slowly this year. She's only had two races and she's a fresh horse."

Canani would not commit to the $400,000 Ramona Handicap (G1) on September 9 as Tranquility Lake's next start, but owner Martin Wygod did not hesitate. "We'll stay here to run in the Ramona," Wygod said. "I think she's the best grass filly in the country. I don't think there's a filly that can beat her on the grass."

Love That Red in Pat O'Brien

It wasn't so much that "pace makes the race" in the Pat O'Brien Handicap (G2) on August 20, as it was the "trip gets the (pay) slip." And nobody was more aware of that than the silver-haired, irrepressible Baffert when he met the press to talk about Love That Red's 11Ú2-length victory in a race that saw second-choice Elaborate lose all chance at the start.

Pat O'Brien H. (G2)
Del Mar, August 20, $150,000, 7 furlongs, fast, 1:21.89
1-LOVE THAT RED, g. 4, Highland Park-Pat's Lady Red, by Circle Home.
2-Cliquot, g. 4, Bertrando-Pharapache, by Lyphard.
3-Son of a Pistol, g. 8, Big Pistol-Mood Swing, by J. O. Tobin.

"We got the perfect trip," Baffert said. "We were in the perfect spot and when he got through on the rail, it was all over."

And that was plain to all, including trainer Bruce Headley, whose old warhorse, Son of a Pistol, finished third in the seven-furlong dash. "He let the (expletive) through on the rail! How could he do that?" Headley said as he headed off to check out his horse after the race.

Rounding the turn for home, Love That Red, tracking in third place while hugging the rail after breaking from the inside post, closed in on pacesetter Cliquot. When the leader began to drift a little wide on the final turn, jockey Corey Nakatani shot the winner through and took a clear lead heading to the eighth pole. From there, it was just a race for second place, which Cliquot won by a neck over the eight-year-old Son of a Pistol.

The winner, owned by Terry Wells, was the 8-to-5 favorite and earned $90,000 for the victory.

In the words of racecaller Trevor Denman, Elaborate, owned by Trudy McCaffery and John Toffan and trained by Juan "Paco" Gonzalez, was "hopelessly left" at the start as he reared just as the doors sprung, losing seven or eight lengths in the first couple of jumps.

"I was lucky I was able to stay on," jockey Victor Espinoza said. "My horse had shifted his back leg just as we were ready to go, and I could feel it and (assistant starter) could see it. We yelled, but it was too late.

"It happens. What are you going to do? He was going to run great, too." Baffert acknowledged that when that happened to Elaborate, "It made it easy for us. We had the open hole (Elaborate was in post two). That's racing luck. When you see that happen, you just hold your breath and hope it wasn't yours." The Pat O'Brien win gave Baffert a stakes double for the weekend and put his meet-leading total for stakes wins at six.

FINISH LINES-Trainer Richard Mandella's reputation with South American imports certainly was not hurt by a solid performance in an August 17 turf allowance race when four-year-old Argentine filly Alexine (Arg) won by a half-length. She is being primed for the Ramona . ... Also on August 17, Myung Kwon Cho registered something of an oddity in racing. He was breeder, owner, and trainer of two winners on the day-Aristosa and Good Geezer, both sired by Video Ranger, who finished fourth in the 1990 Kentucky Derby (G1). ... On August 18, Designed for Luck, a three-year-old chestnut gelding, earned a chance to run in the Del Mar Derby by winning the Relaunch Stakes at one mile on turf.