Ag Bullet to bypass Osunitas Stakes
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DEL MAR, Calif. – Ag Bullet, the seven-time stakes winner who was second in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga on June 6 in her first start of the year, will not race before the Grade 1 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs on Aug. 29.
Ag Bullet, trained by Richard Baltas for Joey Tran and Calvin Nguyen, has won the Ladies Turf Sprint the last two years when the race was a Grade 2.
Baltas considered starting Ag Bullet in the $100,000 Osunitas Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Del Mar this Saturday, but has opted to wait for the $1.75 million Ladies Turf Sprint.
“I don’t really see anything to gain except for a little bit of fitness,” Baltas said.
In 2024, Ag Bullet won the Osunitas before winning the Ladies Turf Sprint. Last year, Ag Bullet won the Jaipur by two lengths and did not start again until the Ladies Turf Sprint.
On Sunday at Del Mar, Ag Bullet worked five furlongs in 1:04.60 on the turf course.
“She finished up nicely,” Baltas said of the workout.
In the Jaipur on June 6, Ag Bullet led in the stretch and was beaten a half-length by the multiple stakes winner Reef Runner.
A 6-year-old mare, Ag Bullet has won 8 of 18 starts and earned $3,077,208. She has earned $2,033,840 from her two wins at Kentucky Downs.
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