Euroears gets record win in Bing Crosby at Del Mar

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) - Trainer Bob Baffert's 7-year-old Euroears led from the gate and held off favorite Smiling Tiger to win Sunday's $250,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in a track-record time.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Euroears went straight to the front of the field of six older horses in the Grade 1 Crosby and built up a two-length lead at the halfway point.

Smiling Tiger rallied as expected but couldn't overcome the speed of Euroears, who won by 1 1/4 lengths and covered six furlongs in 1:08.17, easily besting the previous track record of 1:08.29 set by Cost of Freedom in 2008.

``He's an amazing horse,'' Bejarano said. ``He has lots of heart on the lead. He wants to be in front and he's a different horse when he is.''

Baffert was not at Del Mar to see the record-setting victory. He instead was at Monmouth Park in New Jersey where he saddled a much younger horse, 3-year-old Coil, in a victory in the $1 million Haskell Invitational.

Joel Rosario, who was aboard Smiling Tiger, said the favorite had no problems - there just was not enough early pace for him to catch Euroears.

``He ran well, but that winner had an easy lead and he was too much at the finish,'' Rosario said.

Euroears paid $6.80, $3.60 and $2.80. Smiling Tiger paid $2.60 and $2.10. Amazombie was a length back in third and paid $2.40 to show.

It was the 10th victory in 19 lifetime starts for Euroears, a Kentucky-bred son of Langfuhr owned by James and Marilyn Helzer.