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Santa Ysabel Rematch in Santa Anita Oaks

After only a head separated Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro) and Moraz (Empire Maker) in a thrilling renewal of the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Mar. 7, the two sophomore fillies will meet again in Saturday's GII Santa Anita Oaks.

The streaking Baoma Corp homebred Beautiful Gift, a half-sister to the Chu Family's GIII Sunland Derby hero and Bridlewood Farm sire Chitu (Henny Hughes), graduated by a half-length at second asking in her previous trip to the post for Bob Baffert Oct. 23.

The rail-drawn Don Alberto homebred Moraz, an 11-length maiden winner second out in Arcadia Jan. 8, was third behind the sidelined Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) two starts back in the GIII Las Virgenes S. Feb. 6. Moraz's dam Malvinia (A.P. Indy), an $800,000 purchase at the 2013 FTKNOV sale, is a half-sister to the dam of Spendthrift stallion Temple City.

Godolphin homebred Javanica (Medaglia d'Oro), runner-up in four straight stakes tries, returns to her division after giving males all they could handle in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Feb. 13. She came up a neck short to favored Rombauer (Twirling Candy) that day, who returns in Saturday's GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland. The half-sister to recent The Very One S. heroine Antoinette (Hard Spun) makes her first start on dirt in the Oaks.

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Velazquez Gets Beautiful Gift Up In Final Yards Of Santa Ysabel

It may not rise to the level of settled science, but yet another equine case study was unveiled Sunday at Santa Anita, leaving little doubt that when it comes to big race results, this is indeed Bob Baffert's world and the rest of us are merely living in it.

Although she encountered unexpected trouble a quarter mile out, Baffert's Beautiful Gift, the “Other Baffert” in pari-mutuel parlance, was able to mount a furious rally through the lane and get up to nail Michael McCarthy's Moraz by a short head in the Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes, an important steppingstone to the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 3 at the Arcadia, Calif., track. Ridden by John Velazquez, Beautiful Gift got a mile and one sixteenth in 1:44.83.

With Baffert's 3-5 favorite Kalypso showing the way to the far turn, Moraz was closing in, just a length back to her outside while Beautiful Gift sat third at the rail, about 1 ½ lengths off the lead. Approaching the quarter pole, Moraz appeared to have gained the advantage and Beautiful Gift, full of run, was poised to come through at the rail, but instead had to wait and swing three-deep at the top of the lane, allowing Moraz to hold a seemingly insurmountable 2 ½ length lead with just a sixteenth of a mile to run.

“She was full of run and I was trying to keep her from getting dirt in her face but when Rispoli (Umberto, aboard Moraz) pushed Joel (Rosario, aboard Kalypso) in, I had to take a hold of her,” said Velazquez. “But she was able to overcome it…By the time I got her to the outside, I got her rolling and I was hoping she would get there before the wire and she did.”

Idle since breaking her maiden at a flat mile on Oct. 23, Beautiful Gift, who was one of three Baffert entrants among a field of four sophomore fillies, was off at 3-1 and paid $8.00 and $3.80 with no show wagering.

“I didn't think Johnny was going to get there and all of a sudden that mare kicked in and (Beautiful Gift) is really (good). We gave her some time. She got really light on us. The further the better for her. I didn't think she got there until I saw the super slow mo, but I'm just happy that they ran well…It's nice to get these fillies, it's all I have for the Oaks, so it's fun.”

A daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, owned and bred by Baoma Corporation, Beautiful Gift is out of the A.P. Indy mare Sea Gift. With two wins from three starts, the winner's share of $60,000 boosted her earnings to $99,600.

The second choice at 2-1, Moraz finished 2 ¾ lengths in front of Kalypso and paid $3.20 to show. Baffert's third entrant, Heels Up, was last throughout and was distanced by nearly 26 lengths at 16-1.

Baffert, whose top rated Derby hopeful Life Is Good ran away with Saturday's Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, now has nine stakes wins and 21 overall victories at the current Winter/Spring Meet, putting him first in both categories.

Beautiful Gift will receive 50 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, which will be run on April 30. The second, third and fourth place finishers will receive 20, 10 and five points respectively.

Fractions on the race were 23.95, 48.13, 1:12.69 and 1:38.21.

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Distorted Humor’s Varda Upsets Starlet; Princess Noor Pulled Up

Bob Baffert was favored to win his fourth straight renewal of the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Saturday…just with a different horse. Grade I-winning ‘TDN Rising Star’ Princess Noor (Not This Time) was favored to rebound off a fifth in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 6, but instead was pulled up and her stablemate Varda (Distorted Humor) took up the baton, springing a 17-1 upset. It was also the fourth consecutive Starlet victory for winning pilot Drayden Van Dyke and the second for Susan and Charlie Chu’s Baoma Corporation, which campaigned last year’s victress Bast (Uncle Mo).

Purchased by Donato Lanni for $700,000 at the delayed OBS April Sale after breezing in a sharp :20 4/5, Varda was a decisive debut winner going six panels at Del Mar Aug. 30. She was a well-beaten second behind Princess Noor in the GII Chandelier S. going two turns at Santa Anita last time Sept. 26.

Dismissed at the windows in this five-horse affair, Varda raced in tandem with previously unbeaten second-choice Astute at the back of the pack through the opening strides, but bulged out three wide turning for home as that rival cut the corner. The bay trailed the quintet as stablemate Kalypso (Brody’s Cause) clicked off early fractions of :22.91 and :46.43 with Princess Noor in tow. Princess Noor swept to the front as three-quarters went in 1:10.15 with Varda still at the rear of the field with plenty of work to do. Princess Noor stumbled exiting the bend and was quickly pulled up and taken out into the clear by pilot Victor Espinoza. Kalypso resumed command and continued strongly down the lane, but Varda unleashed a powerful late kick, inhaling her stablemate in the final sixteenth to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Nasreddine (Nyquist), the longest shot on the board at 25-1, filled the show spot and Astute was fourth. Varda was the third New York-bred graded winner of the day, following GII Remsen S. victor Brooklyn Strong (Wicked Strong) and GIII Go for Wand H. heroine Sharp Starr (Munnings) at Aqueduct.

“She always tries hard,” said Van Dyke. “She broke well and we just waited. She needed every bit of that long stretch.”

“[Varda] had been working really well and she looked like the kind of filly that the farther the better with her, so that’s why we’ve been waiting and waiting with her,” Baffert said. “I’m so upset about [Princess Noor] it’s hard to focus.”

As for that injured favorite, the Hall of Famer said, “Victor [Espinoza] said he pulled her up right away. He said it didn’t look real bad. It was her left front. We’re going to take her back to the barn and take X-rays and see what the deal is. I can’t believe it. She was running so easy.”

Later in the day, TVG’s Britney Eurton tweeted an update on Princess Noor, saying, “I just spoke with Bob Baffert regarding Princess Noor who was pulled up in the GI Starlet. He said she X-rayed clean, but has some inflammation in her left front tendon and stated, ‘she was much better when she got back to the barn.'”

Pedigree Notes:

Varda is the 20th Grade I winner, 69th graded scorer and 159th black-type victor for WinStar stalwart Distorted Humor. Her dam She’ll Be Right (Sky Mesa) is also responsible for GSP Big Family (Any Given Saturday) and MSP Geouttamyway (Cross Traffic). The 14-year-old mare’s recent produce uncludes a yearling colt by Lookin at Lucky and a weanling colt by Maclean’s Music. She was bred back to Accelerate. This is also the family of Grade I winner Abscond (Blame).

Satuday, Los Alamitos
STARLET S.-GI, $300,500, Los Alamitos, 12-5, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.53, ft.
1–VARDA, 120, f, 2, by Distorted Humor
1st Dam: She’ll Be Right, by Sky Mesa
2nd Dam: Boogie Beach Blues, by Cure the Blues
3rd Dam: Lonely Beach, by Kennedy Road
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($100,000 Ylg ’19 SARAUG; $700,000 2yo ’20 OBSAPR). O-Baoma Corporation; B-Masters 2013 LLC & Distorted Humor Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Drayden Van Dyke. $181,500. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $254,500. *1/2 to Getouttamyway (Cross Traffic), MSP, $174,830; and Big Family (Any Given Saturday), GSP, $148,433. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Kalypso, 120, f, 2, by Brody’s Cause
1st Dam: Malibu Cove, by Malibu Moon
2nd Dam: Spirited Away, by Awesome Again
3rd Dam: Cape North, by Capote
($240,000 Ylg ’19 FTKJUL). O-Rockingham Ranch & David A Bernsen LLC; B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $61,500.
3–Nasreddine, 120, f, 2, by Nyquist
1st Dam: Appreciating, by Sky Mesa
2nd Dam: Hello Barbara Sue, by Dehere
3rd Dam: Barbara Sue, by Big Spruce
($360,000 Ylg ’19 FTSAUG). O-Andrew & Rania Warren; B-John C Oxley (KY); T-Michael W McCarthy. $37,500.
Margins: 1HF, 4, 8. Odds: 17.90, 11.20, 25.40.
Also Ran: Astute, Princess Noor.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Baffert-Trained Private Mission Likely Favorite In Desi Arnaz

Charles Chu, a highly successful businessman from Massachusetts who manufactures global positioning systems (GPS), watched his wife Susan have great fun dabbling in the racing game a few years back. So he thought he'd give it a try, too. The first horse he bought was named Drefrong and all he did was win the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint in 2016.

Since then the Chus, who originally hail from Taiwan and who race under the name Baoma Corporation, have gone in with both feet and by all reports are loving it. They now run their own breeding operation and have had fine success with that, too. But they also continue to buy and race horses, like a filly named Private Mission who'll carry their colors Saturday in the featured Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

Private Mission was a $750,000 yearling purchase in 2019 who got off on the right foot with a win in her initial start at Santa Anita on October 12 for trainer Bob Baffert. That was a 6 1/2-furlong straight maiden test with Drayden Van Dyke up. For the Arnaz, the daughter of Into Mischief has been made the 9-5 morning line favorite and will have Van Dyke in the boot once again.

The Chus have entered another well-bred and high-priced ($700,000) runner in the Desi Arnaz – Varda, a first-out winner who then was stakes-placed behind star Princess Noor at Santa Anita most recently in the Chandelier Stakes on September 26. She, too, runs out of the Bob Baffert barn and the daughter of Distorted Humor will go postward at 6-1 in the morning line with Abel Cedillo riding.

The pair of bay fillies will take on six rivals in the sixth edition of the stakes, named for the band leader, actor and huge racing fan-owner-breeder who most famously teamed with his wife, Lucille Ball, to give us one of early television's most popular shows – “I Love Lucy.”

Here's the full field for the extended dash from the rail out with riders and odds:

C T R Stables and Wonderland Racing's Plum Sexy (Heriberto Figuero, 12-1); Private Mission; B-4 Farms' Canoodling (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); Varda; Saragol Stable Corp or Viana's Queengol (Juan Hernandez, 4-1); McClanahan, Carrol Boys Racing or Say's Miss Costa Rica (Flavien Prat, 10-1), LNJ Foxwoods' Astute (Mike Smith, 3-1), and Pegram, Watson and Weitman's Heels Up (Victor Espinoza, 8-1).

Astute, a $425,000 yearling by Speightstown, scored in her debut on October 12, a sprint on the grass against straight maidens at Santa Anita. She's conditioned by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella and has Hall of Famer Smith as her partner again.

Saturday's nine-race card is off and running at 12:30 p.m. Pacific. The Arnaz goes as the 8th race on the program with an approximate off time of 4 p.m.

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