Trainer Bob Baffert made it seven consecutive $200,500 Starlet (G2) victories as 2-1 third choice Nothing Like You controlled throughout Saturday at Los Alamitos.
Stretched back to two turns a month after she had rallied to win by a nose going seven furlongs in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar, the 2-year-old Malibu Moon filly established the lead from the inside immediately under jockey Juan Hernandez and was never seriously challenged on her way to a 5¼-length victory.
Owned by a partnership that includes Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff Giglio, and John Rogitz, Nothing Like You has won three times in a row after finishing second, eighth, and fourth in the first three starts of her career.
Out of the Brother Derek mare Miss Derek, Nothing Like You completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.78 and the $120,000 payday pushed her bankroll to $237,160. She paid $6.20, $3.60 and $2.40.
Although the outcome was no surprise, Baffert didn't foresee the Starlet would play out the way it did.
“I thought my other filly (Grazia, the 9-5 second choice who finished last in the field of six) would be on the lead,'' he said. “(Nothing Like You) was pretty fresh today because I'd backed off on her a bit because I'd just run her at Del Mar.
“(Hernandez) said she popped out of there and he said nobody wanted the lead so he just took it. Once I saw her on the backside with that long stride you could tell she was in control of the race.
“It took this filly a while to come around. She wasn't real quick. We knew once we stretched her out that would be her game. The longer the better for her.''
Overall, the win added to Baffert's record total in the Starlet. He now has 10, including the trio he won at Hollywood Park when the race was run as the Hollywood Starlet. His victories in Inglewood, Calif. came with Excellent Meeting (1998), Habibti (2001), and Streaming (2013).
The Starlet win was the second in three years for Hernandez, who also scored with Eda in 2021.
“She's improving with every race and distance is what she has always wanted,'' said Hernandez after his record 15th daytime Thoroughbred stakes win at Los Alamitos. “She relaxed perfectly. I let her go at the head of the stretch and she took off.''
Great Forty Eight, who was second under the wire as the longest shot in the field at 29-1, was disqualified and placed fourth for shifting out under left handed encouragement from apprentice jockey J.G. Torrealba and impeding Chatalas, the 9-5 favorite, with about an eighth of a mile to go.
As a result of the incident, the maiden Flynn's Chance, a 17-1 shot, was elevated to second and Chatalas was moved up to third.
Bred in Kentucky by Notch Hill Farm, Wolverton Mountain Farm, and Spendthrift Stallions LLC, Nothing Like You is out of the Brother Derek mare Miss Derek. He sold for $190,000 to John Rogitz at the OBS Spring Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in April. Wildheart Thoroughbreds was the consignor.
Baffert and Hernandez also teamed to win the day's second race with heavily favored Elwood Blues.
Although he had to settle for third money in the Starlit with Chatalas, trainer Mark Glatt tripled, scoring with Tiff With Jimmy in the third, Issa Court in the sixth and Top Gun Tommy in the eighth.
The post Baffert Adds To String Of Starlet Victories With Nothing Like You appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
