As the heavily backed Proletariat strolled along at the front en route to his victory Aug. 23 in the $301,500 Del Mar Derby (G2T) on a series of 12-second furlongs, trainer Jeff Mullins must have been enjoying the view.
"I wasn't watching the fractions," Mullins said after posing in the Del Mar winner's circle with his swift gelding. "I was watching the horse behind me."
That would be the Pavel colt Pavlovian, the winner of the Sunland Derby, making his first start on turf.
"I heard that they were going to try and go with us," Mullins said. "Turned out he was a factor right here going by the first time. But over there on the far turn he was done. (Jockey) Kyle (Frey) was still sitting still, and there was nobody else coming."
For a trainer who has worked hard turning a distracted, talented youngster into a professional racehorse, this qualified as a pretty picture. Pavlovian faded, and the others in the field of eight jockeyed for a run at the leader. But at the head of the stretch, Kyle Frey still had his hands low on Proletariat's neck and, probably, a knowing grin beneath his goggles.
As Frey merely waved his crop at Proletariat's right eye through the final yards, it was déjà vu all over again—a virtual replay of the opening day Oceanside Handicap in which Proletariat went wire-to-wire to win by 5 3/4 lengths at 1 mile.
For the 9-furlong Derby, Proletariat tacked on an additional eighth of a mile in just under 12 seconds to cruise home 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Cinema Stakes winner Bust Out in 1:47.66, while Jordi Bear nosed out Unrivaled Time for third. Melismatic, Charlie's Curlin, Tribalism, and Pavlovian followed in a cluster.
Raging Bull , the sire of Proletariat, won the Hollywood Derby (G1T) over the Del Mar course in the fall of 2018 with a decidedly different deep-closing rush. By contrast, his son has been on the engine from the moment he arrived in the Mullins barn last year, after his purchase for $200,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training by Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures. He was bred by Liberty Road Stables in Kentucky.
Frey, the 2011 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice, has been part of the process from the start and aboard for each of Proletariat's seven races.
"I was getting on him for Jeff before he even ran," Frey said. "He was a little quirky. He wanted to throw temper tantrums and let you know he was the big guy."
Still, he showed promise by winning a 5-furlong maiden turf race at Del Mar and then finishing third when asked for a mile in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes and the Zuma Beach Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita Park.
"He was thinking more about mounting than working," Frey said.
And there it is. Proletariat was gelded late in his 2-year-old season and turned out. When he came back, the light was on and the distractions eliminated. He has now won all three of his races this year, each time the old-fashioned way: making the opposition go where he's already been. Races like the Twilight Derby (G2T) at Santa Anita and the Hollywood Derby back at Del Mar, both at a mile and one-eighth, are now very much in the picture.
"Not bad for a horse we didn't think would ever run long," Mullins said.
