Baffert stakes winners will be tough to beat

Nearly all of Bob Baffert’s wins from his Churchill Downs barn this spring have come in stakes races. Friday, he sends out two stakes-caliber fillies in one of the allowance events serving as nominal features.

The day’s eighth race, for fillies and mares going six furlongs on the main track, is a $141,000 allowance with a $100,000 claiming option for runners who have never won three other-than, who have never won four races, or are entered for the tag. Baffert, who has entered both Cash Call and Silent Law, established a division here this meet not only for stakes, but to split up other horses in his barn who have the same conditions.

The local division, overseen by Dan Ward, has a record of 28-6-4-3 entering the penultimate week of this meet, with victories including Crude Velocity in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 2, Usha in the Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 25, Splendora in the Grade 2 Shawnee on May 30, Cornucopian in the Grade 3 Aristides on May 30, and Explora in the Leslie’s Lady on June 7.

Cash Call won the Grade 3 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita at 1 1/16 miles in June 2025, then was fifth in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga in August while cutting back to seven furlongs. She had a long subsequent layoff, and in her lone start since was third of four in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance in March at Santa Anita. She may be tighter off that effort.

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Stablemate Silent Law, who is less fancied on the morning line, is taking blinkers off while making her first start since finishing seventh in the Grade 1 La Brea last December. A stakes winner at 2, she has been a consistent performer in dirt stakes. She crossed the line second to the talented Tamara in the Grade 3 Chillingworth at 6 1/2 furlongs last October and was later promoted to first following Tamara’s disqualification due to a medication violation.

Friday’s card includes two allowance races going middle distances on turf. The sixth is a $148,000 allowance for horses who have not won two other-than in 2025-2026. The race has a $175,000 claiming option. The ninth is a $127,000 allowance for fillies and mares who have ever won a race other-than or who have never won two races.

While the ninth appears to clearly go through favorites Competitive Market, for Chad Brown, and Amberglen, for Brad Cox, there is room to look elsewhere in the sixth. Morning-line favorite West Hollywood is dangerous as he drops in class after finishing third in the Grade 3 Arlington on this course to the streaking Lagynos. However, several of the longer shots have questions about this surface, this distance, or their status coming off a layoff.

Although he will face plenty of pace pressure, Idratherbeblessed intrigues at anywhere near his 10-1 morning line. He does have recency on his side, and is coming off an allowance win on this course June 4. He was claimed for $80,000 by Mike Maker, noted for moving horses forward off shrewd claims.

Friday’s card also includes a pair of maiden special weights for 2-year-olds. The third race is a $120,000 affair for fillies sprinting on the turf, a surface for which debut starter Just You and Me is bred. The fifth race is a $92,000 dirt sprint, in which Bourbon Town, Crossfire, and Trim Castle all come in with two starts under their belts.

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