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Baffert Back To Business In Juvenile Stakes At Del Mar

It may be easier for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to decompress and recover from last week's Breeders' Cup World Championships than the majority of Del Mar racing fans.

Last Saturday, Baffert was busy with five horses to saddle in four Breeders' Cup races. It began with Gamine finishing third as the 2/5 favorite in the Filly & Mare Sprint and continued with Eight Rings (4th) in the Dirt Mile, As Time Goes By (8th), and Private Mission (11th) in the Distaff and concluded with Medina Spirit (2nd) in the Classic at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

A day earlier his Corniche had triumphed in the Juvenile with Del Mar Futurity winner Pinehurst (5th) and Barossa (9th).

A lot to get the adrenaline flowing in a 68-year-old, even one of his experience and accomplishments. But, Baffert said, recovery time from the rigors of the Breeders' Cup was minimal for him.

“As soon as it goes official, I'm thinking about the next one (race or event),” Baffert said. “I'm proud of all my horses other than Gamine and I blame myself for that. I should have given her a prep race.”

Gamine came in with five straight graded stakes victories by a combined 23 ½ lengths, but hadn't raced since late August.

He considered Private Mission, winner of the Torrey Pines Stakes here during the summer meeting, and As Time Goes By to be victims of circumstance.

Private Mission, As Time Goes By and favored Letruska blazed early before occupying three of the last four finishing positions as longshot Marche Lorraine ($101.80) rallied to win.

“We thought nobody would go with Private Mission, and then they all did,” Baffert said.

The Breeders' Cup ended on something of a high note for Baffert when Kentucky Derby winner (pending a Kentucky Racing Commission ruling) Medina Spirit finished second to runaway winner Knicks Go, polishing off a strong case for an Eclipse Award as the top 3-year-old.

This weekend, it will be back to business as usual for Baffert. That is, looming large over and being positioned to dominate Juvenile stakes races. Baffert will saddle 6/5 morning line favorite Eda and Under the Stars in a field of five for Saturday's $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies. Sunday, he has three of the five entered, not coincidentally the top three choices on the morning line, in the seven furlong Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes – Winning Map (7/5), Messier (8/5), and Kamui (5/2).

First the fillies:

“Under the Stars is a maiden (0-for-1) but she ran well the first time out and we feel she fits in there,” Baffert said. “It's a short field and an opportunity to get black type (stakes placing) on her record.

“Eda we think will like that distance.”

Eda, runner-up by a head to Elm Drive in the six-furlong G2 Sorrento Stakes in August, was the 6/5 favorite in the $300,000 G1 Del Mar Debutante on September 5. But Eda was cooked in a speed duel with Elm Drive which saw them put up fractions of :21.78 and :44.37 for the first half-mile of the seven-furlong test and fade to fifth.

“They went so fast (in the Debutante) that everything fell apart, which happens,” Baffert said with a chuckle and nod to Gamine as well as the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.

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Now the colts in the Bob Hope:

“I hate to run them all together, but they're all doing well and deserve a shot,” the trainer offered.

Winning Map debuted with a 4 1/4-length victory in 1:10.20 for six furlongs at Santa Anita on October 3. Messier, is named after NHL Hall of Famer Mark Messier. Messier was a teammate of the Empire Maker colt's co-owner Tom Ryan's father-in-law, Pat Hughes, along with the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Grant Fuhr on those legendary Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980s.

Messier finished second in his first start on June 27 at Los Alamitos and came back on October 22 to win by 6 ½ lengths, matching the time over the same distance that Winning Map had produced three weeks earlier.

“We're taking the blinkers off Messier,” Baffert said. “He's not as quick as the others, but we think it's a good spot for him at a distance he'll like.”

Kamui was beaten a half-length by fellow Hope entrant Forbidden Kingdom at Del Mar on August 21 and came back to score by six lengths in a 5 ½-furlong sprint at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on September 11.

The field for the Bob Hope from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Messier (Flavien Prat, 8/5); Kamui (Abel Cedillo, 5/2); Winning Map (Mike Smith, 7/5); Rock N Rye (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1), and Forbidden Kingdom (Juan Hernandez, 9/2).

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Eda Rolls In Desi Arnaz At Del Mar

Eda had no trouble with a short field of four others in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. She pressed her pace-setting stablemate Under the Stars, took the lead coming out of the far turn, and drew away in the stretch to win by 4 1/4 lengths.

Coming into the Desi Arnaz, the 2-year-old daughter of Munnings had two victories in her previous four starts, including a last-out win in the Anoakia at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., on Oct. 24. In Saturday's stakes, the Bob Baffert trainee took up position just off stablemate Under the Stars, who held a half-length advantage into the far turn.

Coming into the Del Mar stretch, Eda took over the lead, with Tonito's looming on her outside. The Doug O'Neill trainee challenged briefly, but Eda was too much for her, pulling away to win easily. Under the Stars was third, with Lady T, who had an awkward trip after veering toward the rail early in the race, and Endless Thirst rounding out the field.

The final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:15.53. Find this race's chart here.

Eda paid $2.40, $2.20, and $2.10. Tonito's paid $5.00 and $3.80. Under the Stars paid $2.40.

“She broke well and had good speed. When we turned for home and a horse came up outside us, I shook her up. Then she responded with a good kick,” jockey Flavien Prat said after the race.

“Actually, (Flavien) Prat thought this was the best race she has run. I really thought she relaxed well. I thought my other horse (Under the Stars) was going to be farther back but she broke well and maybe I had her a little too sharp. It was kind of a last minute decision to run Eda here because we also plan to run her back in the Starlet but I loved the way she was able to relax and then kick away clear. Prat doesn't say much, but he was really impressed with her,” Baffert told the Del Mar Press Office after the Desi Arnaz.

Bred in Kentucky by Nathan McCauley, Eda is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Show Me. She is owned by Baoma Corporation. The 2-year-old filly was consigned by Eddie Woods and purchased by Donato Lanni, agent, for $550,000 at the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company March Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training. With her win in the Desi Arnaz, Eda has three wins in five starts for career earnings of $190,000.

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Astute Upsets Private Mission To Win Del Mar’s Desi Arnaz In A Romp

LNJ Foxwoods' Astute, a chestnut filly by sprint champion Speightstown who fetched $425,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale last year, had all of her speed Saturday at Del Mar as she ran away and hid from five rivals in the featured $100,500 Desi Arnaz Stakes at the seaside track north of San Diego, Calif.

Taking her cues from a pair of Hall of Famers — trainer Richard Mandella and rider Mike Smith – Astute went head-and-head with the odds-on favorite Private Mission through splits of :22.21 and :45.30 for the first half mile of the 6 1/2-furlong dash, shook that one off turning for home, then drew out to a sparkling 7 1/2-length tally in a final time of 1:17.28.

Finishing second was Saragol Stable Corp and Johana Viana's Queengol, a nose in front of Watson, Pegram and Weitman's Heels Up.

Astute was making only the second start of her career and her first in a stakes. She had won a straight maiden race on grass at Santa Anita last month in her debut.

“Wow, That's what I've got to say,” said Smith. “I knew she was good; I just didn't know she was this good. She was good on the grass the other day (winning a straight maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs), but she's even better on the dirt.”

“The owners and the manager — Alex Solis Jr. — told me before I ever saw her that she's special and it's kind of held true,” said Mandella. “She got a little sick on me in the summer and I had to give her a month off, so that's why she's a little late (starting her career). I only put her in the maiden turf (debut win on October 12 at Santa Anita) because I knew she could do turf and I was afraid a dirt race the next day wouldn't fill. I expected she'd run well today, but maybe not this well. We'll think about the Starlet.”

The Grade 1 Starlet over 1 1/16-miles at Los Alamitos will be run Dec. 5.

Astute paid $12.20, $5.40 and $5.20. Queengol returned $5.60 and $4.20, while Heels Up paid $6.00 for the show.

LNJ Foxwoods is the nom du course of Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of Great Neck, N.Y. Mandella also trains the top grass horse United for the outfit.

Leading rider Abel Cedillo added a pair of winners to his totals after seven days of racing and now shows 12 firsts. Trainer Mandella won another race on the card and now has five firsts for the meet, second in the conditioner's standings to Peter Miller's six.

Racing resumes at Del Mar tomorrow starting at 12:30 p.m. with a nine-race card.

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Baffert-Trained 2-Year-Olds Rate Most Attention In Weekend Stakes At Del Mar

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is scheduled to send out 9-5 morning line favorite Private Mission and two other 2-year-old fillies in a field of eight for Saturday's $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes and 6-5 favorite Spielberg to face five 2-year-old male rivals in Sunday's Grade III, $100,000 Bob Hope this weekend at Del Mar.

Baffert increased his Breeders' Cup victory total to 17 last Saturday with the wins by Gamine in the $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint and the 1-2 finish of Authentic and Improbable in the $6 million Classic at Keeneland. He then spent a day or two saying good bye to Authentic, Improbable and Pacific Classic winner Maximum Security – fifth in the Breeders' Cup Classic – as they went off to Lexington, KY., area farms where they'll stand stud.

Authentic went to Spendthrift, Improbable to Winstar and Maximum Security to Ashford Stud.

Three's a crowd, even for Baffert, but seeing horses of great accomplishment off to second careers is a part of racing's annual cycle.

“You don't want to see them go, but we have more good horses around. I have great clients (who provide),” Baffert said this morning from Santa Anita. “You can't think about the past too much, you look ahead.”

Baffert has older horses like Mucho Gusto and Roadster to look forward to campaigning in 2021 and it will be no surprise to anyone who has followed racing to any degree recently if a heretofore unknown soon-to-be 3-year-old emerges from the shedrow as a major Kentucky Derby contender. (Especially if the Derby is held on the first Saturday in May again).

Of immediate concern to Baffert, however, are the upcoming stakes here. Having returned from Kentucky and undergone 72 hours of isolation before returning to work at Santa Anita, he'll be making his first Crosby season appearance here on Saturday.

In addition to Private Mission, an Into Mischief filly, Baffert has Varda (6-1) and Heels Up (8-1) to look after in the Desi Arnaz. Private Mission and Varda were both $750,000 auction purchases. Heels Up sold for $350,000.

“They're all winners, and it's not easy to win races out here,” Baffert said. “They're all training well, but it could be a tough race. Looks like Richard Mandella (Astute, 3-1) and John Sadler (Queengol, 4-1) have some good ones in there.”

Speilberg, a $1 million purchase a year ago, will be coming back two weeks after breaking his maiden in his fourth career start – two of them against Grade I competition. Baffert has saddled the winner four times in six runnings of the Hope, the initial graded stakes of the Crosby meeting. Spielberg, a son of Union Rags, will be shortened to seven furlongs and put on the same course where he finished second, 1 ¾ lengths behind Dr. Schivel, in the Del Mar Futurity on September 7.

“He came out of the last one very well and the seven-eighths should be OK for him,” Baffert said. “And he runs well at Del Mar.”

Spielberg has the maiden win and two runner-up finishes last summer on his record here.

The field from the rail for Saturday's Desi Arnaz: Plum Sexy (Heriberto Figueroa, 12-1); Private Mission (Drayden Van Dyke); Canoodling (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); Varda (Abel Cedillo); Queengol (Juan Hernandez); Miss Costa Rica (Flavien Prat, 10-1); Astute (Mike Smith), and Heels Up (Victor Espinoza).

The field from the rail for Sunday's Bob Hope: Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 7-2); Spielberg (Cedillo, 6-5); Weston (Van Dyke, 3-1); Coastal Kid (Tyler Baze, 15-1); Red Flag (Espinoza, 6-1), and Uncle Boogie (Prat, 5-1).

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