Baby Yoda tries to reproduce big Beyer in Steel Valley Sprint
Baby Yoda flashed the highest Beyer Speed Figure of the year in September. He’ll get a chance to live up to that promise as he chases one of Ohio’s biggest prizes of the year on Monday.
Baby Yoda is part of a field of 12 for the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint for 3-year-olds on Monday at Mahoning Valley. The race highlights a nine-race card, with a first post of 12:45 p.m. Eastern.
The card includes the $75,000 Mahoning Valley Distaff for fillies and mares, which has drawn 13. Both stakes are part of a mandatory payout of the Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6, which begins with race 4. The carryover was $15,952 entering Saturday’s card.
After making two starts in Maryland for trainer Charles Frock, Baby Yoda burst onto the scene with a front-running allowance win July 17 at Saratoga for new trainer Bill Mott, earning a career-best Beyer of 93. He promptly upped that to a staggering 114 with a 4 1/4-length allowance win on Sept. 4. That number is still tied for the highest Beyer of the year. Olympiad and Ducale, second and third behind Baby Yoda, flattered the effort by coming back to win their next start.
Baby Yoda stepped up to the Grade 2 Vosburgh on Oct. 9 at Belmont. Steadied at the start, he raced evenly throughout to finish third behind Following Sea – who came back to finish third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint – and older Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire.
“Baby Yoda is a nice horse, a lot of fun to be around, and we have been slowly working him up the ladder,” Mott said. “He caught a tough field last out in the Vosburgh, and after the race we made the decision to point him towards the Steel Valley Sprint. It’s a good purse, and we will be in our own age group.”
Jaxon Traveler, with more stakes seasoning, will likely keep Baby Yoda company on or near the lead. The two break beside each other, with Jaxon Traveler drawn just inside his foe in post 3, which may force the hand of jockey Gerardo Corrales. Baby Yoda is reuniting with Jose Ortiz, who rode him to both his victories at Saratoga.
Jaxon Traveler, shipping in for Steve Asmussen, won this year’s Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn and the statebred-restricted Star De Naskra at Pimlico. He finished second in two other dirt stakes this season, including the Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico. The versatile Munnings colt has twice raced on turf, finishing third in the Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga behind two-time Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal and third in the Allied Forces on Sept. 17 at Belmont in his last start.
Newbomb, Real Talk, and Beren also prefer to race on or near the lead. Real Talk won the Jersey Shore at Monmouth two starts back, then briefly vied with heavy favorite Jackie’s Warrior early in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx Racing before finishing third. Newbomb in his only stakes start finished fifth in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga behind Jackie’s Warrior, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good, and Following Sea. He rebounded with a head allowance win against older horses at Belmont.
Beren is coming off a win in the Danzig against Pennsylvania-breds at Penn National, posting a Beyer of 90, the top last-out number in the field. Beren, Jaxon Traveler – whose career-best is a 94 – and Real Talk are the only members of this field besides Baby Yoda to break 90.
In the Mahoning Distaff, Mundaye Call gets some class relief for Brad Cox, with Florent Geroux in to ride. A stakes winner in both 2020 and 2021, Mundaye Call was most recently third in the Open Mind at Churchill Downs behind Sconsin and Bell’s the One.
Victim of Love won the Grade 3 Vagrancy in May at Belmont, but finished fifth and sixth in her two starts since.