Baby Yoda's 114 Beyer in allowance race turns heads
Trainer Bill Mott found a potential stakes performer in his barn that he probably didn’t know he had when Baby Yoda won a first-level allowance race Saturday by 4 1/4 lengths, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.33 and earning a whopping 114 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest figure earned by any horse in training this year.
Baby Yoda, a 4-year-old Florida-bred son of Prospective, debuted for maiden $10,000 claiming in May at Pimlico for trainer Charles Frock at Pimlico. He was purchased privately by a group headed by Adam Wachtel, following a third-place finish in a first-level allowance on June 26.
Wachtel on Sunday said he bought the horse with the idea of putting him on the turf, believing the 3-year-old turf sprint division was relatively weak. But Mott wasn’t overly enthused with Baby Yoda’s turf work, so they ran him in a starter allowance here on dirt July 17; he won by 1 1/4 lengths.
Saturday’s first-level allowance appeared to come up strong and included the Mott-trained Olympiad, who was making his first start in a year. Olympiad ran second to Baby Yoda.
“The fact that he won wasn’t a total surprise,” Mott said. “The way he did it was.”
Baby Yoda is not Breeders’ Cup nominated and it would cost $100,000 to nominate him. Wachtel said he may look to run Baby Yoda in the Grade 2, $250,000 Vosburgh at Belmont or the Grade 2, $250,000 Phoenix at Keeneland, unless the horse needs more time after the big effort.
“I think we would have to consider the Vosburgh, see how he’s doing,” Wachtel said. “If he were to win a ‘Win and You’re in’ race you’d think about paying the fee to make him Breeders’ Cup eligible. Yesterday was a freak effort.”