Unbeaten 2-year-old Hughes could face Best Pal runner-up Phone Booth again when the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity goes to the gate Sunday, Sept. 6.

The seven-furlong stakes race for juveniles anchors an 11-race closing-weekend card at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, with gates opening at 11:30 a.m. and first post at 1:30 p.m. The Futurity is one of the first meaningful tests of the 2027 Kentucky Derby crop, according to Horse Racing Nation, running alongside the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga the same day.

Hughes, a colt by Into Mischief trained by Bob Baffert, enters off a dominant Best Pal Stakes (G3) victory Aug. 8 at Del Mar. Jockey Juan Hernandez, the seven-time Del Mar riding champion, guided Hughes wire-to-wire that day, pulling away in the stretch to win by 7¾ lengths over Phone Booth, the Orange County Register reported. Hughes earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 108 in just his second career start.

Hernandez called Hughes "a good one" after the Aug. 8 race.

Phone Booth, a colt by Pavel trained by Doug O'Neill, earned a 93 Beyer in his Best Pal runner-up finish under jockey Umberto Rispoli. O'Neill could also send He Is No Lie, a 2-year-old by Early Voting who finished fourth in the Best Pal with an 81 Beyer. Horse Racing Nation listed all three colts as possible entrants; official entries had not been confirmed as of Thursday, Sept. 3.

The Best Pal win gave Baffert his record 191st overall stakes victory at Del Mar and his fifth straight Best Pal title. He pointed Hughes toward the Futurity shortly after.

"Hughes has always shown he was special … He had been training well and we knew he had a lot of speed," Baffert said after the Aug. 8 race.

The Del Mar summer meet wraps up Monday, Sept. 7, on Labor Day. The Shared Belief Stakes and the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf also run on Sunday's card, according to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.