Bob Baffert | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gamine, Hudson Ridge Among Nominees For Great Lady M. Stakes, Los Alamitos Derby

Multiple Grade I winner Gamine heads 15 nominees to the $200,000-guaranteed Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes while Hudson Ridge, fresh off consecutive turf victories – including the Cinema Stakes – is among eight 3-year-olds nominated to the $150,000-guaranteed Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby.

The two races will be run for the eighth time at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif. The Los Alamitos Derby will be offered Saturday, July 3 while the Great Lady M. will be contested Monday, July 5, the final day of the Summer Thoroughbred Festival.

Owned by Michael L. Peterson and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Gamine has won seven of eight starts, including Grade 1 tallies in 2020 in the Acorn at Belmont Park, the Test at Saratoga, the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland, and the Derby City Distaff last month at Churchill Downs.

The 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief and the Kafwain mare Peggy Jane has banked $1,286,500.

Baffert, who has won the Great Lady M. three times at Los Alamitos – Fantastic Style (2015) and Marley's Freedom (2018-2019),– also nominated recent impressive maiden winner Illumination and Qahira, who has won half of her 10 starts and earned $249,400 for Baoma Corporation.

A daughter of Cairo Prince and the Bates Motel mare Motel Lass, the 5-year-old mare owns a local victory. She won an optional claimer at Los Alamitos during the 2019 Summer Thoroughbred Festival.

The other nominees include Angelcents, Bella Vita, Candura, Dynasty of Her Own, Edgeway, Eyes Open, Five Pics Please, Miss Stormy D, Road Rager, Scotish Star, and Stellar Sound.

Owned by Baffert's wife Jill and Double L Racing, Hudson Ridge, an American Pharoah colt out of the Galileo mare Shell House earned his maiden win in the Cinema May 23, then returned 26 days later to win an optional claimer as the 9-5 favorite.

An earner of $112,940 in six starts, Hudson Ridge has raced only once on dirt, finishing fourth in a one-mile maiden contest March 5.

Baffert's other nominees to the Los Alamitos Derby, which he has won four times in a row and five of the last six, are Defunded, runner-up behind The Chosen Vron in the Affirmed June 13, and Classier, who was a distant third in that Grade III.

The other nominees are Ingest, It's My House, Mr. Impossible, Back Ring Luck, and Mucho Del Oro.

Entries for the Los Alamitos Derby will be taken Wednesday, June 30 while the Great Lady M. will be drawn Friday, July 2.

The post Gamine, Hudson Ridge Among Nominees For Great Lady M. Stakes, Los Alamitos Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Sunday’s Racing Insights: Avengers Unveil Pricey Pair

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

6th-LRC, $45K, Msw, 2yo, 5f, post time: 6:28 p.m. ET
The stallion-making syndicate nicknamed “The Avengers” will be represented by a pricey pair of yearling buys here conditioned by Bob Baffert. Favored at 6-5 on the morning line is Messier (Empire Maker), who was the most expensive buy by his late sire last year when he brought $470,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearlings Showcase. The bay is out of two-turn stakes winner Checkered Past (Smart Strike) from a Sam-Son family that includes Canadian champions Catch the Ring and Catch the Thrill. Carbonite (Union Rags), meanwhile, was the highest-priced yearling by his sire in 2020 when he brought $560,000 at Keeneland September. Previously a $170,000 KEENOV weanling, he is out of a half-sister to GI Preakness S. winner and young sire Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music). The pair have been working in company for this, most recently breezing five furlongs from the gate at Santa Anita in 1:00.20 (3/20) last Thursday. Messier appeared to be going slightly better of the two before galloping out with a bit more energy (click for XBTV video). TJCIS PPs

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Life Is Good to Pletcher, Returns to Worktab

by Bill Finley and Steve Sherack

Undefeated and considered one of the most promising horses in the sport, Life Is Good (Into Mischief) will soon join the Todd Pletcher stable. He had been trained by Bob Baffert, who has lost a number of top horses due to his ongoing problems involving the Medina Spirit (Protonico) positive in the GI Kentucky Derby for betamethasone.

After winning the GII San Felipe S., Mar. 6 at Santa Anita, Life Is Good was sidelined and ruled out of the Triple Crown races after coming down with a hind-end injury, which required surgery to remove a chip in his ankle. He worked three furlongs Thursday morning at Keeneland in :37 flat.

Elliott Walden, the president and CEO of WinStar Farm, the co-owner of Life Is Good, confirmed the trainer switch.

“Life is Good worked this a.m. with our farm trainer, Destin Heath at Keeneland,” Walden said via text. “His team has done a wonderful job getting him back to the work tab. He went :37 and out in :49 2/5. The plan is to ship to Todd Pletcher in the coming weeks with a possibility of running in New York later this year. With the ban on Bob in Kentucky and New York right now, our opportunities are limited. We will continue to evaluate the situation with Bob and appreciate everything he has done with Life is Good.”

One landing spot for Life Is Good could be the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 28 in Saratoga. Baffert has been banned by the New York Racing Association and, currently, is not able to run in New York or stable there. He has, however, filed a suit against NYRA seeking a stay that would allow him to compete at the NYRA tracks.

Walden declined to answer any other questions regarding WinStar's relationship with Baffert.

WinStar has also moved Country Grammer (Tonalist) from the Baffert barn to the Pletcher stable. The winner of the GI Hollywood Gold Cup in his last start, he may go next in the GII Suburban H. at Belmont. Still another WinStar-owned stakes horse has been moved out of the Baffert barn. Crystal Ball (Malibu Moon) will make her debut Saturday for trainer Rodolphe Brisset in the Lady Jacqueline S. at Thistledown. Spendthrift Farm has also reportedly moved its horses out of the Baffert barn. And Hozier (Pioneerof the Nile) will make his debut Saturday in the GIII Ohio Derby for Brisset after campaigning for Baffert. He is owned by the partnership of SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Golconda Stable, Siena Farm LLC and Robert Masterson.

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Life Is Good Has First Work Back; Colt Will Head To Todd Pletcher In New York

On Thursday morning at Keeneland, two-time graded stakes winner Life Is Good put in his first workout since undergoing minor surgery to remove an ankle chip earlier this year. The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief breezed three furlongs in 37 seconds flat under the watchful eye of WinStar Farm trainer Destin Heath; WinStar is undergoing track renovations at its training center this summer, so Heath has been maintaining a training operation at Keeneland.

“Life Is Good worked this a.m. with our farm trainer, Destin Heath at Keeneland,” co-owner WinStar Farm's president and CEO Elliott Walden told Horse Racing Nation. “His team has done a wonderful job getting him back to the work tab. He went 37 and out in 49.2. The plan is to ship to Todd Pletcher in the coming weeks with a possibility of running in New York later this year.”

Life Is Good was formerly conditioned by embattled trainer Bob Baffert, and is undefeated in three career starts in Southern California. Co-owned by the China Horse Club, the colt was the individual favorite in four Kentucky Derby Future Wager pools prior to the announcement of his injury in late March.

WinStar also transferred Grade 1 winner Country Grammer from Baffert to Pletcher earlier this week, due to the New York Racing Association's ban on Baffert trainees in the wake of the announcement of a positive test in the Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit.