Ag Bullet's loss baffles Baltas
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Ag Bullet remains under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31 despite an eighth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint.
Trainer Richard Baltas said on Sunday that Ag Bullet emerged from the race with a cut on a hind leg but was otherwise fine.
“She must have clipped heels, or someone clipped her left hind ankle,” Baltas said. “She scoped clean. Maybe she didn’t fire, for whatever reason.”
Ag Bullet, the 11-10 favorite, finished eighth of 10, 6 3/4 lengths behind race winner In Our Time. Ag Bullet, who had won the last two runnings of the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint, was second behind pacesetter In Our Time for the first half-mile but faded through the final furlong.
“Maybe she would have been better on the lead,” Baltas said. “She’s never run like that. She had a chance at the top of the lane and she didn’t fire.”
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Ag Bullet, a 6-year-old mare owned by Calvin Ngyuen and Joey Tran, has finished in the top three in 13 of her 19 starts. Saturday’s loss was the first time she finished worse than third since a seventh-place finish after a troubled trip in the Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs in May 2025.
Ag Bullet has finished third and second in the last two runnings of the BC Turf Sprint. She was kept in training this year to start in races such as the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Sprint and BC Turf Sprint.
Baltas said Ag Bullet could start in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Sept. 26 as a prep for the Oct. 31 race at Keeneland.
“I might run her at Santa Anita and try to get her confidence back,” Baltas said.