Newgrange, Rockefeller Give Baffert 1-2 Finish In Sham, But Neither Horse Earns Kentucky Derby Points

Ho hum.

Another year, another bevy of top-shelf 3-year-old colts for trainer Bob Baffert.  That was the storyline at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Saturday, as Baffert runners Newgrange and Rockefeller ran one-two throughout in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds at one mile, giving him three consecutive wins in the Sham and eight overall.  Ridden to victory by John Velazquez, who collected his third stakes win on the fourth day of the meet, Newgrange, who slowed things down nicely, prevailed by 2 ¾ lengths and got the distance in 1:38.32 after fractions of :24.46, :48.94, 1:12.84 and 1:25.27.

With post time favorite Rockefeller drawn to his immediate outside, the Baffert pair were hustled from the gate but quickly settled into nice rhythm, with Newgrange maintaining a one-length advantage leaving the three-furlong pole and he was in complete command turning for home.

The third choice at 5-2, Newgrange, who was a first-out maiden winner going six furlongs under Velazquez Nov. 28 at Del Mar, paid $7.40.

No match for his stablemate late, Rockefeller held off a fast finishing Oviatt Class by a nose for second and paid $2.60 and $2.20 as the 3-2 favorite with Flavien Prat.

“There was one speed, the other Bob Baffert horse (Rockefeller) and I'm pretty sure he didn't want them in a head and head,” Velazquez said. “He told me to put my horse on the lead. Once my horse got to the lead he waited. I took a little hold of him and he kind of started waiting for the horses, so I started waiting for the horses to come to him, by the time we got to the backside I kind of let him do his own thing. I let him get in a comfortable rhythm, after that it was pretty easy though.

“He's so green,” the rider added, “he feels like he got on by himself, he was waiting for horses so, I had to give him a little reminder to keep his mind on running and his gallop out was pretty good so it still seems like he's learning.”

In an encouraging performance, Oviatt Class finished well into slow splits and acts like a colt who could improve with added distance for trainer Keith Desormeaux.  Ridden by his brother Kent, Oviatt Class was off at 4-1 and paid $2.40 to show.

Although any Baffert runners are not now eligible for Kentucky Derby qualifying points – after Baffert-trained Medina Spirit failed a drug test following his first-place finish in the 2021 Kentucky Derby – the conditions of the race state that the winner is to receive 10 points, with four for second, two for third third, and one point for the fourth-place finisher, MacKinnon. Churchill Downs Inc., which runs the Derby at its flagship track in Louisville, Ky., has excluded Baffert horses from participating at any of its tracks through the end of the 2023 spring meeting at Churchill Downs and further stated the horses are not eligible for qualifying points if Baffert is their trainer.

Updated Kentucky Derby Leaderboard

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‘Huge Year Ahead Of Him’: Trainer Desormeaux Bullish On Sham Contender Oviatt Class

Oviatt Class was an apparent “steam horse” in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 5, the “wise guys” bearing down on him at the windows and sending him off at 9-1, less than half his morning line program odds of 20-1.

Paring of his price in part was due to the scratch of 9-5 morning line Juvenile favorite Jack Christopher.

Oviatt Class did finish an eventful fifth, beaten 8 ½ lengths by undefeated Bob Baffert trainee Corniche, a prohibitive favorite to be named Eclipse Award winner as champion 2-year-old male at the 51st annual Eclipse dinner Feb. 10 at Santa Anita.

One person more disappointed in Oviatt Class than his mutuel backers in the Juvenile was his trainer, Keith Desormeaux, who hopes the son of the A.P. Indy stallion Bernardini makes amends in Saturday's Grade 3 Sham Stakes, the West's first significant offering on the Triple Crown trail.

Oviatt Class has victimized himself with tardy starts or wide trips in each of his five races, including a third by 3 ¾ lengths behind Corniche in the G1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita last Oct. 1, rallying from seventh and last at the half-mile marker.

“Maybe the horse is just not the greatest gate-breaker,” said Desormeaux, who has given his brother, Hall of Fame member and three-time Kentucky Derby winner Kent a leg up in all of the bay colt's starts, “but I don't consider that a problem for him.

“As far as him coming wide, I think that's more due to Kent's style. The horse didn't run his race at Del Mar (in the Juvenile) and I still haven't figured it out.

“We were so excited and pumped up expecting a huge race based on the way he'd been training, and that wasn't only my opinion. He was 20-1 on the morning line and ended up 9-1, so he was a hot horse, an insider's horse, and I think the gamblers were right on, but he didn't produce and I don't have an answer.

“The horse is doing great and I think he's got a huge year ahead of him, so we've taken our time, let him freshen and the Sham seems like a good spot to get it rolling.”

Oviatt Class was bought for $60,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sales and is owned by financial magnate James E. Downey of Newport Beach, Calif. The horse could become another of Keith's burgeoning bargains, already more than doubling his purchase price with earnings of $137,620.

“I met James through a friend,” Keith said. “He had owned horses some 30 years ago and with Oviatt Class, it looks like he's hit a home run in his first at bat on his return.”

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Keith, a regular at Santa Anita in recent years, now also operates in Kentucky and his home state of Louisiana, where this interview was conducted by phone, before he departed for Santa Anita where he will be on hand for the Sham.

“To tell you the truth, I'd prefer to be based at Santa Anita full time,” Keith said, “but the economics necessitates me splitting the stable, and I'm doing the best I can in this manner.”

Little wonder Keith has a fondness for Santa Anita. With Kent in the saddle for his brother, Texas Red won the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Exaggerator the 2016 Santa Anita Derby, before going on to capture the Preakness.

As to the revival of Kent's riding career at age 51 after overcoming a myriad of personal and substance abuse issues, Keith, who turns 55 on Jan. 27, offered this: “Kent's so talented and his ability has always been there.

“It's personal BS that's a problem. He's got to take care of that and I don't have the answers, but the riding ability is God-given and an absolute gift. He's got it working full force right now.

“Hopefully, we can see that on Saturday.”

The Sham goes as race seven of 10 with a 12 noon first post time. Here's the field: Mackinnon, Juan Hernandez, 3-1; Oviatt Class, Kent Desormeaux, 7-2; Newgrange, John Velazquez, 2-1; Rockefeller, Flavien Prat, 8-5; and Degree of Risk, Umberto Rispoli, 12-1.

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Weekend Lineup: Kentucky Derby Prep Season Heating Up

The racing spotlight focuses on the Road to the Kentucky Derby this weekend, with three qualifying points races to be run on New Year's Day at Aqueduct, Oaklawn and Santa Anita. A total of 17 points are offered in each race on a 10-4-2-1 basis to the top four finishers.

A fourth race for 3-year-olds, the Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park, is not a points race but kicks off the road to the G1 Florida Derby, traditionally one of the most productive races that leads to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Aqueduct's $150,000 Jerome, run at one mile around one turn, has drawn a field of eight 3-year-olds. Fourteen have been entered in Oaklawn's $250,000 Southwest, run at a mile around two turns. Five are scheduled to go postward in the $100,000 Sham, a Grade 3 race run around two turns at one mile at Santa Anita. Two of the five are trained by Bob Baffert, whose horses are not eligible for Kentucky Derby points due to his being excluded from all Churchill Downs tracks after Medina Spirit, first-place finishers in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, failed a post-race drug test.

In addition to the races for Triple Crown hopefuls, there are two other graded stakes on Santa Anita's New Year's Day program: the G2 Joe Hernandez for older turf sprinters running on the picturesque downhill turf course; and the G3 Robert J. Frankel for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles on the infield grass oval.

Here's a brief look at the four 3-year-old races (all times Eastern).

Saturday

3:50 p.m. – Jerome at Aqueduct

The Jerome was first run in 1866 and has been won by some legendary horses, but that was when it was contested during the fall. Since being moved to January, it has not attracted classic prospects.

This year's field is led by Jeremiah O'Dwyer-trained Cooke Creek, an Uncle Mo colt who was 2-for-2 at Delaware Park before a good second to Baffert-trained Rockefeller in the G3 Nashua Stakes Nov. 7. He draws the inside post and will be ridden by Manny Franco. Starting from the outside post will be the Rudy Rodriguez-trained Hagler, the expected pacesetter who won back-to-back sprint races at Belmont and Aqueduct and is making his stakes debut. Jorge Vargas Jr. rides.

Jerome entries

4:42 p.m. – Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park

Morning line favorite Strike Hard has a win over the Gulfstream surface at the same distance as the Mucho Macho Man but disappointed in his only stakes start for trainer Matthew Williams when sent to Churchill Downs for a seventh-place finish in the G3 Iroquois Stakes in September. Junior Alvarado rides. Graphic Detail, a Practical Joke colt trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, won at first asking at Belmont Park Nov. 6 and has been training steadily at Payson Park. Red-hot Luis Saez has the mount.

Mucho Macho Man entries

6:13 p.m. – Smarty Jones at Oaklawn

Oaklawn has built a formidable series of races for 3-year-olds leading to the Triple Crown. After Saturday's Smarty Jones comes the $750,000, G3 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 29; the $1 million, G2 Rebel on Feb. 26; and the $1,250,000, G1 Arkansas Derby on April 2.

The Smarty Jones appears to be a wide open contest, with Chris Hartman-trained Kavod – a $50,000 claim at Churchill Downs in November – the only stakes winner in the field of 14. He won the six-furlong Advent Stakes at Oaklawn Dec. 3. Home Brew, a Street Sense colt from the Brad Cox barn, comes off a solid allowance win going a mile at Oaklawn Dec. 4 and is the morning line favorite. He began his career in Maryland with Kelly Breen and was transferred after that race to Cox, finishing second in a Nov. 14 Churchill Downs allowance race before his local win. Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has a trio entered in the Smarty Jones, but two of them – Cairama and Cool Papa G – drew the 11 and 12 posts, respectively, posing a serious challenge for their riders. His best hope may rest with All in Sync, breaking from the two post under Ricardo Santana Jr. A 12-1 longshot breaking from the rail is Kenny McPeek-trained Dash Attack, a Munnings colt who captured his debut at Oaklawn by 1 1/4 lengths. David Cohen rode him that day and will be aboard again on Saturday.

Smarty Jones entries

7:00 p.m. – Sham at Santa Anita

Rockefeller and Newgrange represent the barn of Bob Baffert, who dominates California races for 2- and 3-year-olds on dirt. Rockefeller comes off a win in the G3 Nashua after being sent to  Belmont in November and Newgrange won at first asking at Del Mar. Mackinnon, third in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf for trainer Doug O'Neill, is testing the main track for the first time since his debut at Santa Anita last May. Oviatt Class is a talented horse who would benefit from a quick pace. He was an unlucky fifth behind Corniche in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile for trainer Keith Desormeaux and his brother, Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux.

Sham entries

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TVG Plans ‘Year In Review’ Feature For New Year’s Eve

Horse racing fans can tune into TVG on New Year's Eve at 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT on Friday for a special “Year in Review” feature. The network will take a look back at memorable racing moments throughout 2021 including Triple Crown prep races, the Breeders' Cup from Del Mar and international racing. On Saturday, newly-minted 3-year-olds will compete for Kentucky Derby (G1) points in the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, $100,000 Sham Stakes (G3) from Santa Anita and the $150,000 Jerome Stakes from Aqueduct.

TVG's Caleb Keller will be reporting live from Oaklawn Park on Saturday. The Smarty Jones Stakes will offer 10-4-2-1 points towards a spot in the starting gate in the Kentucky Derby and the race has drawn a full field of fourteen. Home Brew, one of two contenders for trainer Brad Cox, has been installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite and will be ridden by Florent Geroux. A homebred son of Street Sense for Gary and Mary West, he has one two of his three starts and will be making his stakes debut.

Kentucky Derby points will be up for grabs at Santa Anita in the $100,000 Sham Stakes (G3), one of four graded stakes races on the card along with the $250,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2), $200,000 La Canada Stakes (G3) and the $100,000 Robert J. Frankel Stakes (G3). Todd Schrupp, Britney Eurton, Christina Blacker, Scott Hazelton, Dave Weaver and Kurt Hoover will be reporting live from Santa Anita throughout the day with exclusive interviews, analysis and features.

Gulfstream Park has a loaded card featuring six black-type events on Saturday. Larry Collmus and Andie Biancone will be reporting live from the track with interviews and expert analysis. The featured event is the $150,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes, a one mile contest for 3-year-olds. Strike Hard, fresh off of an allowance win at Gulfstream in December, is the 2-1 morning line favorite for trainer Matthew Williams and will have Junior Alvarado in the irons as he faces five rivals.

In addition to racing from Oaklawn Park and Santa Anita TVG will be featuring racing from Gulfstream Park, Tampa Bay Downs, Fair Grounds, Aqueduct and more. Fans can tune in on TVG, TVG2 and the Watch TVG app which is available on Amazon Fire, Roku and connected Apple TV devices.

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