as time goes by | Horse Racing Free Tips

Baffert Considers Next Start For Medina Spirit, Gamine, Classier Work

The rumors on the backstretch were too persistent to ignore. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, they said, was going to run Kentucky Derby winner (pending rulings and litigation) Medina Spirit in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes, a one-mile main track event for 3-year-olds here on August 29.

“There have been rumors about that horse since May 1,” Baffert said with a laugh this morning. “There has been a lot of talk about that horse.

“He's going to breeze this week and I'll know more after that. I go work-by-work with him. I'm looking at the Pennsylvania Derby, maybe as an option. (The question becomes) Do I give him a race here? I'm going to let him tell me, the horse will let me know.”

Medina Spirit was not among the 14 nominated for the Shared Belief by Thursday night's deadline. Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World notably was, and trainer John Sadler said that will be the next assignment for the son of Candy Ride. Supplemental entries, at a cost of $1,000, can be made up to closing time of entries next Friday morning.

The $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, a 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds, is set for September 25 at Parx, formerly Philadelphia Park, in Bensalem, Penn.

Classier, another of Baffert's talented 3-year-olds, worked six furlongs in a bullet 1:11.00 this morning and will run here in either the Shared Belief or next Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes, a seven-furlong extended sprint for 3-year-olds and up.

Yet another Baffert standout, Gamine, worked six furlongs in 1:12.00 with an eye toward next week's Ballerina at Saratoga and Baffert's As Time Goes By, a winner of two stakes at the Santa Anita meeting, covered five furlongs in a bullet :58.80.

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As Time Goes By Seeks Third Straight in Clement Hirsch

Tabor, Magnier and Smith's As Time Goes By (American Pharoah) looks for her third straight win–and an automatic berth in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff–in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar Sunday. The Bob Baffert trainee, second in the Mar. 13 GI Beholder Mile, romped home by 9 1/4 lengths in the Apr. 24 GII Santa Margarita S. She was all out to hold off This Tea (Curlin) in the May 22 GII Santa Maria S., but has been freshened since then and is training strongly for her return.

Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) invades from the East to try out the Del Mar surface which will host the Breeders' Cup in November. Winner of last year's GI Kentucky Oaks, the bay filly returned to win the Mar. 13 GI Azeri S. by a head over divisional leader Letruska (Super Saver) and added the Apr. 30 GI La Troienne S. at Churchill Downs. She pressed Letruska on the lead before settling for third in the June 5 GI Ogden Phipps S. last time out.

Venetian Harbor (Munnings) returns to the main track after a front-running victory in the 6 1/2-furlong GII Monrovia S. at Santa Anita June 5 in her only 2021 outing to date. First or second in five straight graded events last year–including runner-up efforts in the GI Ashland S. and GI Test S. and a win in the GII Raven Run S.–the bay filly was sidelined following an eighth-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint in November.

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Del Mar: Shedaresthedevil Faces Top Local Challengers In Sunday’s Hirsch

The Grade 1, $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes will have its 51st running Sunday at Del Mar and seven high class fillies and mares have signed up to give it a go. The winner will earn an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff to be held at the track later this fall.

Three of the femmes have special credentials and will draw the most attention at the wickets and on the racetrack. The trio consists of Qatar Racing and Flurry Racing Stables' Shedaresthedevil, Tabor, Magnier and Smith's As Time Goes By, and Ciaglia Racing and Highland Yard's Venetian Harbor.

The mile and one-sixteenth main track headliner will go as the ninth of 10 races on the Sunday program, which has a first post of 2 p.m.

Shedaresthedevil has shipped in from the east coast to contest the Hirsch, which has been won by such top distaffers as Stellar Wind (twice), Beholder, Zenyatta (three times), Azeri (twice), and Paseana. The shipper races out of the red-hot barn of trainer Brad Cox and sports a record of seven wins in 14 starts and earnings of $1,867,318. The 4-year-old daughter of the More Than Ready sire Daredevil has won five graded stakes, including a pair of Grade 1s. She'll come with her regular rider, eastern-based Florent Geroux.

As Time Goes By is a bay filly by Triple Crown champion American Pharoah who'll be making the eighth start of her career. The Bob Baffert trainee was last out on May 22 in the Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita, a mile and one-sixteenth that she won by a nose. Hall of Famer Mike Smith is signed on to ride the multiple stakes winner of $380,600.

Venetian Harbor also comes into the Hirsch off a stakes victory, hers being the Grade 2 Monrovia at Santa Anita on June 5. It was her fourth overall victory and enhanced her bankroll to $633,400. The quick daughter of Munnings has primarily been sprinting and her speed could prove dangerous in the Hirsch. Trainer Richard Baltas has drafted Mario Gutierrez to handle the 4-year-old Sunday.

Here's the full field for the race in post position order with riders and morning line odds:

Benjamin and Sally Warren's Warren's Showtime (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Michael Rosenmayer's Clockstrikestwelve (Kyle Frey, 30-1); As Time Goes By (8/5); Mathiesen Racing, Feghali or Mathis' Paige Anne (Flavien Prat, 15-1); 5th Street Stables, Saldana or Urbina's Cover Version (Abel Cedillo, 30-1); Venetian Harbor (2-1), and Shedaresthedevil (7/5).

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Bing Crosby Nominations Promises Deep Field Of Sprinters At Del Mar

Seventeen horses, encompassing virtually all the top sprinters on the West Coast, have been nominated to Saturday's $300,000 Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes, assuring that the field will be a stellar one when it is set and post positions are drawn on Wednesday.

Trainer Mark Glatt finished first and third in the 2020 Crosby with Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen. He has those two plus Dr. Schivel nominated and said Sunday he might run all three.

Other marquee speedsters on the nomination list include 2020 Pat O'Brien winner C Z Rocket for Peter Miller; the trio of Ax Man, Eight Rings, and Gamine from the Bob Baffert barn; graded stakes winner Flagstaff from the John Sadler stable; and the double-quick Cal-bred Brickyard Ride out of the Craig Lewis barn.

Sadler said Flagstaff will skip the Bing Crosby and instead go in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien here on August 28.

Baffert said the 4-year-old filly Gamine, a winner of six graded stakes in her last seven starts – four of them Grade 1s – is more likely to continue competing against her own gender elsewhere than take on males in the Bing Crosby.

But Gamine is one of 11 older fillies and mares nominated to next Sunday's Clement L. Hirsch, as is stablemate As Time Goes By. A 4-year-old daughter of Baffert-trained Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, As Time Goes By is one of three stakes winners at Santa Anita that are possibles for the Hirsch, a 1 1/16-mile main track event that usually determines the top older filly or mare of the meeting.

The others are Venetian Harbor and Warren's Showtime.

The 6-furlong Bing Crosby is a “Win & You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar on November 6. The Clement L. Hirsch is likewise designated for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff that same day.

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