Month: January 2022

Baffert’s Other Horse Wins Palos Verdes

A lightly raced, once-pricey juvenile trained by Bob Baffert won the GIII Palos Verdes S., but it wasn't chalk, the $3.65-million Fasig-Tipton 2-year-old Cezanne (Curlin). Instead it was the year-younger, $300,000 OBS April 2-year-old Essential Wager (Honor Code), who was making his stakes debut after riding a two-race win streak.

Essential Wager left the gate smartly and came up on the inside to emerge from the early fray with the lead, marking the first quarter in :22.21 with Team Merchants (Nyquist) pressing from the outside. The two held position with the half notched in :45.17, then Essential Wager cut the corner and pulled away with a right-handed reminder. He blazed five panels in :57.41 while Shooters Shoot (Competitive Edge) was flying on the outside. As game as they come, Shooters Shoot could not pass Essential Wager and finished a neck back while Essential Wager held firm.

The winner came into the Palos Verdes off a brilliant work in tandem with Cezanne Jan. 23, in which he finished in front of his stablemate with a time of :59 2/5 for the five furlongs. It was best of 88 that day, with Cezanne hitting his mark in :59 3/5 (2/88).

“This horse is getting better and better, he had trained really well,” said Baffert. “With Cezanne, I think it was a little too short for him. All of Essential Wager's races have been pretty impressive and actually, he's bred not to be a sprinter. [Rider] Abel [Cedillo] did a great job, got him outta there and held off those horses pretty well. You know, he took a lot of heat early and kept going.”

Essential Wager debuted at seven furlongs in October over this track with an educational start: a bump, a stumble, a premature move, and a lost duel. He finished second that day, but moved down to six furlongs and has stayed there since, resulting in a maiden win Nov. 12 at Del Mar, a first-level allowance Dec. 11 at Los Alamitos, and Saturday's Palos Verdes victory.

“We're going to let Bobby [Baffert] do what he wants with him,” said co-owner Mike Pegram, “but I think he can probably get two turns, it looks like.”

Pedigree Notes:
One of nine black-type winners for Honor Code, Essential Wager is his young sire's fourth graded winner. His other three graded winners have all come at the Grade I level.

Inbred 3×5 to Seattle Slew, Essential Wager is one of 19 stakes winners out of a daughter of Officer. His dam has a 2-year-old filly named Bru Na Boinne (Arrogate), who brought $120,000 from Wayne R. Sanders and Kat Kirk at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. She also has a yearling full-sister to Essential Wager named Essential Ellie and visited the court of Wildcat Red for this spring's foal.

Saturday, Santa Anita
PALOS VERDES S.-GIII, $200,000, Santa Anita, 1-29, 4yo/up, 6f, 1:09.95, ft.
1–ESSENTIAL WAGER, 120, c, 4, by Honor Code
               1st Dam: Mr Hall's Opus (GSP, $155,300), by Officer
               2nd Dam: Sala de Oro, by Expelled
               3rd Dam: Kildare, by Flying Paster
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($200,000
RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Michael E.
Pegram, Karl Watson, & Paul Weitman; B-Maccabee Farm
(KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Abel Cedillo. $120,000. Lifetime
Record: 4-3-1-0, $207,200. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Shooters Shoot, 120, g, 5, Competitive Edge–Repeat, by
Bernardini. ($90,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg '18
KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR). O-Bella Cavello Stables
LLC; B-Nancy C. Shuford (KY); T-Richard Baltas. $40,000.
3–Cezanne, 122, h, 5, Curlin–Achieving, by Bernardini.
($3,650,000 2yo '19 FTFMAR). O-Mrs. John Magnier,
Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith & St. Elias Stable; B-Hill 'n'
Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. & St. Elias Stables, LLC (KY); T-Bob
Baffert. $24,000.
Margins: NK, 2 3/4, 3HF. Odds: 1.80, 20.60, 0.70.
Also Ran: Team Merchants, Dark Vader. Scratched: Arham.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Chirinos Guides Canoodling To $47.40 Megahertz Upset

Fifth on dirt going seven furlongs on opening day, Dec. 26, the Mike Puype-trained Canoodling was able to set slow fractions and steal Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Megahertz Stakes at Santa Anita, as she held Con to win by half a length while getting one mile on turf in 1:37.30 under New Mexico-based Roimes Chirinos, who notched his first-ever win and graded stakes win at The Great Race Place.

Off at 22-1 in a field of seven older fillies and mares, Canoodling broke from the far outside and seemed to relish the change in surface and stretch out.

“There wasn't much speed in this race, but her pedigree is set right to do this today, she's by Pioneerof the Nile,” said Puype, who saddled Canoodling to a fifth place finish in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes on Dec. 26. “We felt she could route on the turf. Todd Fincher (New Mexico-based trainer) had left her with me and this is where he wanted to run right after that last race and I just got her ready the best we could.

“The jock did a good job. He nursed the fractions along good and we had no pace pressure. The fractions were slow and when they came to get her, she had plenty left.”

A winner of one of four races on turf, Canoodling paid $47.40, $12.40 and $5.80.

“What a great day for me,” said Chirinos, a 38-year-old native of Venezuela. “It's my first graded stakes win in this beautiful country and at Santa Anita. It is unbelievable. She's a tiny, little filly but she's got a really, really big heart and she always tries hard. Today they made it easy for me because they let me walk the first half and I thought wow, if they let me go like this, they will never pass me.”

Owned by Lori Owens' B-4 Farms, Canoodling, a 4-year-old filly by Pioneerof the Nile out of the Harlan's Holiday mare Miz Kella, notched her third stakes win and improved her overall mark to 14-7-1-2. With the winner's share of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $278,023.

The 8-5 favorite, Warren's Showtime lacked room at the rail heading into the far turn and again in deep stretch and finished second in a huge effort. Ridden by Juan Hernandez, she paid $3.40 and $2.80 while finishing a game nose better than Avenue de France.

Ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, French-bred Avenue de France rallied from last to finish third by a head over second choice Bodhicitta. Off at 24-1, Avenue de France paid $5.40 to show.

Fractions on the race, all set by the winner, were 25.30, 49.87, 1:14.51 and 1:25.87.

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Mandatory Payout Sunday In Gulfstream Park Rainbow 6

Pegasus World Cup Weekend will be wrapped up in grand style with a mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 pool Sunday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The popular multi-race wager has been building a jackpot for 12 racing days in a row, generating a carryover pool of $727,305.66 heading into Sunday's 11-race program. Sunday's pool is estimated to grow to $3 million or higher.

The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is usually only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool usually goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. However, on mandatory-payout days, the entire pool is paid out to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the six-race sequence.

Sunday's Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 5-11, kicked off by a five-furlong turf dash for $12,500 claiming fillies and mares. Queen Calypso and Filmore East, who will make their first starts for trainers with 30-percent strike rates with off-the-claim starters, are rated at 3-1 and 7-2, in the morning line.

A 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight race on turf for 3-year-old fillies follows in Race 6. Trainer Chad Brown is represented by two first-time starters in the full field – Public Service, a daughter of Hard Spun, and Ughrouda, a daughter of Curlin. Todd Pletcher-trained Beside Herself, a very wide third in her Gulfstream debut, is rated as the 3-1 morning-line favorite.

Ever-steady Don't Get Khozy is rated at 9-5 in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares in Race 7, which is followed by a well-stocked 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight race for 3-year-olds on turf. Brown-trained Bandimere, a son of More Than Ready, and Pletcher-trained Celestial Glaze, a son of Frosted, are among the first-time starters.

Elizabeth Dobles' Cuy is slated to seek his third win in a row over Gulfstream's Tapeta course in Race 9, a 5 ½-furlong starter allowance.  The sequence will be wrapped up by a mile optional claiming allowance on turf, featuring a full field of older horses, in Race 10, and a 1 1/16-mile race for $10,000 claimers on Tapeta in Race 11.

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