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Baffert’s Other Horse Wins Palos Verdes

A lightly raced, once-pricey juvenile trained by Bob Baffert won the GIII Palos Verdes S., but it wasn't chalk, the $3.65-million Fasig-Tipton 2-year-old Cezanne (Curlin). Instead it was the year-younger, $300,000 OBS April 2-year-old Essential Wager (Honor Code), who was making his stakes debut after riding a two-race win streak.

Essential Wager left the gate smartly and came up on the inside to emerge from the early fray with the lead, marking the first quarter in :22.21 with Team Merchants (Nyquist) pressing from the outside. The two held position with the half notched in :45.17, then Essential Wager cut the corner and pulled away with a right-handed reminder. He blazed five panels in :57.41 while Shooters Shoot (Competitive Edge) was flying on the outside. As game as they come, Shooters Shoot could not pass Essential Wager and finished a neck back while Essential Wager held firm.

The winner came into the Palos Verdes off a brilliant work in tandem with Cezanne Jan. 23, in which he finished in front of his stablemate with a time of :59 2/5 for the five furlongs. It was best of 88 that day, with Cezanne hitting his mark in :59 3/5 (2/88).

“This horse is getting better and better, he had trained really well,” said Baffert. “With Cezanne, I think it was a little too short for him. All of Essential Wager's races have been pretty impressive and actually, he's bred not to be a sprinter. [Rider] Abel [Cedillo] did a great job, got him outta there and held off those horses pretty well. You know, he took a lot of heat early and kept going.”

Essential Wager debuted at seven furlongs in October over this track with an educational start: a bump, a stumble, a premature move, and a lost duel. He finished second that day, but moved down to six furlongs and has stayed there since, resulting in a maiden win Nov. 12 at Del Mar, a first-level allowance Dec. 11 at Los Alamitos, and Saturday's Palos Verdes victory.

“We're going to let Bobby [Baffert] do what he wants with him,” said co-owner Mike Pegram, “but I think he can probably get two turns, it looks like.”

Pedigree Notes:
One of nine black-type winners for Honor Code, Essential Wager is his young sire's fourth graded winner. His other three graded winners have all come at the Grade I level.

Inbred 3×5 to Seattle Slew, Essential Wager is one of 19 stakes winners out of a daughter of Officer. His dam has a 2-year-old filly named Bru Na Boinne (Arrogate), who brought $120,000 from Wayne R. Sanders and Kat Kirk at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. She also has a yearling full-sister to Essential Wager named Essential Ellie and visited the court of Wildcat Red for this spring's foal.

Saturday, Santa Anita
PALOS VERDES S.-GIII, $200,000, Santa Anita, 1-29, 4yo/up, 6f, 1:09.95, ft.
1–ESSENTIAL WAGER, 120, c, 4, by Honor Code
               1st Dam: Mr Hall's Opus (GSP, $155,300), by Officer
               2nd Dam: Sala de Oro, by Expelled
               3rd Dam: Kildare, by Flying Paster
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($200,000
RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Michael E.
Pegram, Karl Watson, & Paul Weitman; B-Maccabee Farm
(KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Abel Cedillo. $120,000. Lifetime
Record: 4-3-1-0, $207,200. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Shooters Shoot, 120, g, 5, Competitive Edge–Repeat, by
Bernardini. ($90,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg '18
KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '19 OBSAPR). O-Bella Cavello Stables
LLC; B-Nancy C. Shuford (KY); T-Richard Baltas. $40,000.
3–Cezanne, 122, h, 5, Curlin–Achieving, by Bernardini.
($3,650,000 2yo '19 FTFMAR). O-Mrs. John Magnier,
Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith & St. Elias Stable; B-Hill 'n'
Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. & St. Elias Stables, LLC (KY); T-Bob
Baffert. $24,000.
Margins: NK, 2 3/4, 3HF. Odds: 1.80, 20.60, 0.70.
Also Ran: Team Merchants, Dark Vader. Scratched: Arham.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Pletcher, Ortiz Soar on Pegasus Day

HALLANDALE, FL–Heading into Saturday's Pegasus World Cup card at Gulfstream, it wasn't much of a stretch to think that trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. could walk away the winners of both Pegasus features of the afternoon. However, considering the obstacles facing them, one had to concede that it might be a bit too tall of an order. The GI Pegasus World Cup Turf contender Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) was coming off a massive layoff, 239 days to be exact, and Life Is Good (Into Mischief), while freakishly fast and seemingly yet to reach his full potential, had to face the likes of likely Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter) in the day's feature, the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. Throw into the mix that Ortiz could still see a knee fracture sustained Jan. 7 in the rearview mirror, forcing him to the sidelines for three weeks and putting him woefully close to missing the big day altogether. However, on the big day, 'The Colonel' put it all together to defend his title, while Life Is Good put on a performance that left spectators as wowed as his Breeders' Cup win last fall. And as WinStar Farm's Kenny Troutt, who campaigns Life Is Good with China Horse Club, accurately pointed out during the post-race press conference, there must have been a higher force at play, allowing the stars to align on the big day.

“It's just been a blessing,” said Trout. “God has really, really helped us. This horse here has just been really special…This horse is really one of the best horses we've ever had. He's just got all the talent there is.”

Keeping to the theme, Ortiz added, “Thank God, first of all. Thank God for my health. Also, a couple doctors told me I could make it. My friend Dr. Rafael Lopez told me to stay positive and told me I could do it.”

Sent off the slight favorite over Knicks Go, Life Is Good rushed out to take the lead despite an awkward step out of stall 4. And he wasn't taking 'no' for an answer, quickly spurting off to an uncontested quarter in :23.12 as Knicks Go was content to survey the affair from a second, several lengths behind. Still cruising up front following a :46.35 half mile, the powerful bay was given a couple of jiggles of encouragement approaching the quarter pole. Drifting out well wide turning into the homestretch as his rivals pursued in vain, the 4-year-old showed what all the pre-race hype was about, crossing the a geared-down 3 1/4-lengths ahead of Knicks Go, who finished a length ahead of Stiletto Boy (Shackleford). Endorsed (Medaglia d'Oro) was fourth and GI Belmont S. winner Sir Winston (Awesome Again) was fifth.

“We were committed to letting him run his race,” said Pletcher, who named the G1 Dubai World Cup in March as Life is Good's likely next target. “You know Knicks Go is a fast horse. We didn't know for sure how it was going to play out. There was the potential for a speed duel there. He broke and I didn't think his first step was great, but he recovered pretty quickly and got to the turn in good shape. Knicks Go maybe didn't bounce away as quick as he does sometimes, so we kind of had the advantage at that point.”

Added Ortiz, “I respect [Knicks Go] a lot. I thought it was going to be a match race. But going into the first turn, my horse was so fast, so I just let him do his thing. He went to the first turn a little fast. I never thought I would be in front like that. When I looked around, I didn't see anybody. Todd told me to use my judgement. He relaxed so well, and I couldn't wait to let him run. He was going fast, but he was doing it the right way.”

Commenting on his ride aboard last fall's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner, Joel Rosario said, “I thought the trip would be fine. We thought maybe we'd be on the lead. I thought Life Is Good probably had a little more speed than me. He ran his race. They came over a little bit on the first turn, so I had to kind of just take him outside a little bit and let him relax from there, and hopefully, at some point, the horse would come back a little bit But he didn't come back. He just kept going.”

Brad Cox added, “The plan was definitely to go. I wanted to– we just got outrun. I talked to Joel and he said he handled the track fine. He said a couple on his outside were moving along pretty good and it kind of got a little tight [early], so he took him back off of it a little bit and obviously, the winner was just galloping on the lead.”

Cox continued, “He's been super good to us. We're proud of him and we're happy and excited that he's retiring sound and healthy and I look forward to training some of his babies in a couple of years. He's six; it's time for him to go off to stud. Hopefully, he'll pass on his heart and determination and be a good sire.”

Purchased for $525,000 by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm at the Keeneland September Sale, Life Is Good kicked off his career with Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and his talent became clear early. He stamped himself an exciting GI Kentucky Derby prospect with a TDN Rising Star-earning performance when scoring by 9 1/2 length at Del Mar in the fall of 2020. The following spring, he annexed the GIII Sham S. and GII San Felipe S.-besting subsequent Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protanico) in both those starts.

Life is Good was knocked off the Derby trail–and forced to miss the entire Triple Crown series–after a chip was discovered in his left hind ankle after a breeze in preparation for the GI Santa Anita Derby. The chip was minor, but required surgery and time off.

Transferred to Pletcher thereafter, the bay was narrowly beaten by Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga before taking on his elders for the first time and coming out much the best in the Sept. 25 GII Kelso H. at Belmont. All of those performances appeared to be an appetizer for what was to come next. The well-backed favorite in the GI Big Ass Fans GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar Nov. 6, the Gary and Mary West-bred colt rolled home a scintillating 5 3/4-length winner.

Added Pletcher, “I don't want to get in trouble with any other owners I have trained for, [but] I can't think of one that is better than him. What makes him so special is his ability to run fast, the high cruising speed and [then] keep going. He's just got tremendous mechanics. Just a phenomenal talent.”

Pedigree Notes:
North America's leading sire of 2021 combined with North America's leading broodmare sire of 2021–what's not to like? Life Is Good is a product of the oldest formula in the books: breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best. He is one of Into Mischief's 45 graded winners and 106 black-type winners, as well as one of the 119 stakes winners out of Distorted Humor's daughters. MGISW Practical Joke, MGSW Fulsome, and four other listed winners all follow the identical formula of Into Mischief over Distorted Humor, as do another four graded-placed winners.

Beach Walk has a 2-year-old filly by Blame, a yearling colt by Candy Ride (Arg), and was bred back to Into Mischief. She traces directly to French and American blue hen Frizette (Hamburg), her 11th dam, whose descendants include leading French sire of yesteryear Tourbillon (Fr) and leading American sires of more recent decades, including Mr. Prospector and Seattle Slew.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY 1/ST BET-GI, $2,941,500, Gulfstream, 1-29, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:48.91, ft.
1–LIFE IS GOOD, 123, c, 4, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Beach Walk, by Distorted Humor
                2nd Dam: Bonnie Blue Flag, by Mineshaft
                3rd Dam: Tap Your Feet, by Dixieland Band
'TDN Rising Star' ($525,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-CHC Inc. &
WinStar Farm LLC; B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY);
T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $1,755,000. Lifetime
Record: 7-6-1-0, $2,814,200. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple
Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Knicks Go, 123, h, 6, Paynter–Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker.
($40,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $87,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Korea
Racing Authority; B-Angie Moore (MD); T-Brad H. Cox.
$585,000.
3–Stilleto Boy, 123, g, 4, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by
Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger;
B-John & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $292,500.
Margins: 3 1/4, 1, 4 3/4. Odds: 0.80, 0.90, 26.50.
Also Ran: Endorsed, Sir Winston, Chess Chief, Commandeer, Title Ready, Empty Tomb. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Violence’s Newgrange Stays Perfect in Southwest

Just minutes after his high-profile ownership conglomerate suffered a relative disappointment when running second, third and fourth with 60% of the field in the GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita, unbeaten Newgrange (Violence) found his best stride late to justify 3-2 favoritism in Oaklawn's $750,000 GIII Southwest S.

Entering off a debut sprint win Nov. 28 and front-running GIII Sham S. tally at Santa Anita Jan. 1, the handsome dark bay broke well and took the first turn perched three deep. He dropped back a bit while still kept out into the track as the field spread out down the backside, and seemed to be spinning his wheels on the second bend as other rivals moved up inside of him. Hall of Famer John Velazquez was hard at work getting his mount going into a six-furlong split of 1:12.42, and pacesetting longshot Kavod (Lea) looked like he might forget to stop at the top of the lane. The cavalry charge kept plugging away, however, and Newgrange finally leveled off in the final sixteenth to emerge, displaying a powerful stride that none could match and crossing the line 1 1/2 lengths to the good. Barber Road (Race Day) closed well down the center to complete his third-straight stakes exacta, having previously finished second in the Smarty Jones S. here on New Year's Day. Smarty Jones winner Dash Attack (Munnings) was a disappointing and even fifth as the second choice.

“We saw he had a different dimension today, the way the race set up,” said trainer Bob Baffert, who tied Bob Holthus's record five wins in this event and has typically been particularly dangerous in Oaklawn's Triple Crown preps. “Pretty proud of the way he ran. Johnny said he was struggling with the track a little bit earlier and I could tell that. Usually, he's on the lead. But all the way down the backside he was in a good spot. You never know, but he showed some real grit down the stretch to win that race. Love going to Oaklawn Park and winning those big races. It was pretty exciting to watch, the stretch. He'll come back to California and we'll figure out our next move.”

Newgrange did not earn any GI Kentucky Derby qualifying points Saturday due to Churchill Downs's policy of not awarding any points to a horse conditioned by a trainer currently banned from racing at the Louisville oval.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
SOUTHWEST S.-GIII, $750,000, Oaklawn, 1-29, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.83, ft.
1–NEWGRANGE, 122, c, 3, by Violence
1st Dam: Bella Chianti, by Empire Maker
2nd Dam: Bella Chiarra, by Phone Trick
3rd Dam: Bannockburn, by Count Brook
($125,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC, Catherine Donovan, Golconda Stable, Siena Farm LLC; B-Jack Mandato & Black Rock Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R Velazquez. $450,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $552,000. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Barber Road, 117, c, 3, Race Day–Encounter, by Southern Image. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($15,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV). O-WSS Racing LLC; B-Susan Forrester & Judy Curry (KY); T-John Alexander Ortiz. $150,000.
3–Ben Diesel, 117, c, 3, Will Take Charge–Girls Secret, by Giant's Causeway. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Willis Horton Racing LLC (KY); T-Dallas Stewart. $75,000.
Margins: 1HF, 1 1/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 1.50, 11.80, 5.00.
Also Ran: Kavod, Dash Attack, Classic Moment, Call Me Jamal, Osbourne, Costa Terra, Vivar, Ignitis, Don'tcrossthedevil. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
The second-least-expensive of 28 colts purchased for a combined $11,250,000 ($401,786 average) by the Avengers at the 2020 Keeneland September sale, Newgrange is one of Violence's 13 graded stakes winners. The Avengers have also shown an affinity for, and had significant success with, sire Empire Maker. The excellent broodmare sire influence is responsible for the dams of 30 graded winners, including 2021 GISWs Silver State (Hard Spun), Mandaloun (Into Mischief) and Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}). The winner's unraced dam is a daughter of Grade II winner Bella Chiarra (Phone Trick). She produced another Violence colt last April before being bred to War of Will.

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Speedy Speaker’s Corner Scores Breakout Victory in Fred Hooper

Lightly raced Speaker's Corner had earned some strong speed figures up to this point for a horse without a stakes win, and he kicked off his 4-year-old campaign auspiciously with a breakthrough tally in Florida. A second-out graduate in New York as a fall juvenile over a very salty bunch of future stakes runners (Caddo River, Greatest Honour, Miles D, Bourbonic and Original), Speaker's Corner resurfaced off the long lay-off to crush Saratoga allowance foes by open lengths. The GI Pennsylvania Derby next out perhaps proved too much too soon, as he was a distant sixth behind Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) that day, but he bounced back just fine to take a Belmont optional claimer Oct. 29 with a gaudy 109 Beyer. He settled for second last out to old familiar foe Miles D (Curlin) after showing the way in Aqueduct's nine-furlong Discovery S., but this one-turn-mile trip figured to hit him right between the eyes.

Speaker's Corner broke well and eventually poked a head in front of foes on either side through a :22.13 first quarter. The bay was able to earn a sliver of separation after that, but he had to work for it through a :44.82 half. Favored GIII Harlan's Holiday S. winner Fearless was scrubbed on aggressively heading for home as Speaker's Corner still had his hands full with his company up front. Speaker's Corner put away Officiating as he straightened for home, and he dug in ferociously to hold sway Fearless, who was previously 5-4-1-0 over this strip and was representing the red-hot Todd Pletcher barn.

“It was just a phenomenal performance by him,” said winning pilot Junior Alvarado. “We always thought very high of him. He's been a bit of a process to build up and to get to this race and the way he did it. He has a great a great trainer in Bill Mott. I think I was just a passenger today. He was very good today. He put up the fast fractions with horses on the inside and outside. He put them away and still had enough courage to draw away home very strong.”

Mott added, “We didn't know if we'd be on the lead. We didn't really plan to be there, but the horse broke well and he was taking him and he was traveling easily. He was in between horses and he said he didn't want to get jammed up so he let him cruise on and it worked out well. They took a little run at him around the turn and he was able to repel those horses and, of course, good enough to hold off the late challenge of Fearless.”

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
FRED W. HOOPER S. PRESENTED BY HILL 'N' DALE FARMS AT XALAPA-GIII, $150,000, Gulfstream, 1-29, 4yo/up, 1m, 1:35.26, ft.
1–SPEAKER'S CORNER, 118, c, 4, by Street Sense
                1st Dam: Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Round Pond, by Awesome Again
                3rd Dam: Gift of Dance, by Trempolino
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado.
$90,210. Lifetime Record: 7-4-1-1, $286,850.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Fearless, 124, g, 6, Ghostzapper–And Why Not, by Street Cry
(Ire). ($725,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP; $120,000 RNA 4yo '20
FTKHRA; $205,000 5yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Repole Stable; B-Helen
K. Groves Revocable Trust (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $29,100.
3–Officiating, 124, c, 4, Blame–Come a Callin, by Dixie Union.
($100,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP). O/B-Vegso Racing Stable (FL);
T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $14,550.
Margins: 1 1/4, 9 1/4, 2HF. Odds: 1.50, 1.30, 22.70.
Also Ran: Girolamo's Attack, Liam, Shivaree, Payne, Dennis' Moment. Scratched: Bon Raison. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Speaker's Corner is bred identically to MGISW Maxfield, who will begin his first season at stud for Darley in a couple weeks. Fellow Darley resident Street Sense now has 82 stakes winners, 36 of them graded. The late Bernardini, meanwhile, one of the hottest broodmare sires of the last few years, is responsible for the dams of 61 stakes winners (34 graded) and counting. Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), also out of a Bernardini mare, defended his title in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. one race later Saturday.

The winner's unraced dam is a daughter of 2006 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Round Pound (Awesome Again)–she rode the same Churchill rail that day that Street Sense charged up for his GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile romp. Round Pond was acquired by Sheikh Mohammed for a sale-topping $5.75 million at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton November sale. Her black-type earning progeny include G1 Al Maktoum Challenge winner Long River (A.P. Indy).

Speaker's Corner is his dam's first foal. He has a year-younger full-brother named Town Branch who shows an upbeat worktab at Payson Park, a 2-year-old half-brother by Maclean's Music and a yearling half-brother by Nyquist born last May.

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