Baffert finds cozy comeback spot for Heck Yeah

ARCADIA, Calif. – Heck Yeah, the three-time California-bred stakes winner, was entered in the $150,000 California Cup Sprint on Jan. 18 at Santa Anita only to be scratched on race day.

“I thought it would be too hard for him,” trainer Bob Baffert said Friday.

Instead, Heck Yeah had a half-mile workout that morning. Sunday at Santa Anita, Heck Yeah is entered in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at six furlongs, his first start since a fifth against a similar field last March.

“It’s a good spot for him,” Baffert said.

Heck Yeah won three stakes for statebreds as a 3-year-old in the first four months of 2018, including the Echo Eddie Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs, but did not race again until a sixth in the 2019 Cal Cup Sprint.

In Sunday’s race, Heck Yeah will be fitted with blinkers for the first time since a fifth in the Pasadena Stakes against open company on turf in March 2018. Heck Yeah wore blinkers in three wins at the start of his career, including two stakes.

Heck Yeah, who races for a partnership, has won 4 of 7 starts and earned $309,833. A 5-year-old horse by Acclamation, Heck Yeah is eligible for Sunday’s race because stakes wins against California-breds at the ages of 2 and 3 do not count against allowance race eligibility.

Heck Yeah will face a test. The optional claimer includes Tiger Dad and Soldier Boy, who were second and third in a similar race at 6 1/2 furlongs. Soldier Boy, who starts from the rail Sunday, set the pace from an inside post that day and faded in the final sixteenth. Tiger Dad stalked the pace and closed well to finish second by a nose to Hot Sean.

First post for the seven-race program is 11:30 a.m. Pacific.

There are three consecutive optional claimers on Sunday’s program, including two races for fillies and mares on turf – at 5 1/2 furlongs and 1 1/8 miles. Trainer Richard Baltas has contenders in both.

In the fourth race, at 1 1/8 miles, Baltas starts Opus Won who since late July has won 2 of 3 starts. She was a game winner of an optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf by 3 1/2 lengths on Jan. 1.

Opus Won must beat Don’t Blame Judy, who was fourth in the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares on Dec. 28.

In the sixth race, at 5 1/2 furlongs, Baltas runs Del Mar May, a 4-year-old filly by Jimmy Creed who was second in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar in 2018 and will have her turf debut Sunday in her eighth start.

“She’s a Jimmy Creed, and they do like the turf,” Baltas said.

Del Mar May was sixth at 53-1 in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Dec. 28.

“We took a shot,” Baltas said. “I was expecting a better race.”