Baffert has stable ready to go, with Citizen Bull leading the way

ARCADIA, Calif. - Several of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s deep team of top-level 3-year-olds had workouts at Santa Anita on Saturday and Sunday as late-winter race plans begin to form.

Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds on Saturday, the quickest of 106 works at the distance. Citizen Bull is scheduled to start in Saturday’s Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes, a $200,000 race at a mile.

Getaway Car, fourth behind Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 and second to Journalism in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 14, is an intended runner in the Group 3 Saudi Derby, a $1.5 million race at a mile, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 22.

Getaway Car worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on Sunday, with stablemate Rodriguez.

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Barnes, unbeaten in two starts, including an impressive win by 5 1/2 lengths in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs in his stakes debut at Santa Anita on Jan. 4, is tentatively scheduled to start in a Grade 2 race at 1 1/16 miles. The options include the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 22, or the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 1, Baffert said.

Barnes worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds on Sunday.

Baffert said Citizen Bull may be joined by more runners from the stable in the Lewis Stakes. Baffert has six of the race’s 13 nominees, including Barnes, Getaway Car, Madaket Road, Rodriguez, and Romanesque. The stable customarily nominates several horses to leading stakes for 3-year-olds at this time of year, while starting only a few.

Madaket Road and Rodriguez were maiden race winners in their last starts in late December and early January. Romanesque was second in the San Vicente.

On Saturday, Madaket Road worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds, while Romanesque went the same distance from the gate in 1:00.80.

The upcoming stakes in the 3-year-old division are likely to lead to additional starts in early spring before the Triple Crown races in May and June.

“To me, races in March and April are the most important,” Baffert said of the buildup to the Kentucky Derby on May 3.

The Lewis is one of four stakes on Saturday’s program at Santa Anita, including the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes, a seven-furlong race for fillies and mares. There are two Grade 3 races at a mile on turf worth $100,000 each – the Thunder Road Stakes and the Megahertz Stakes for fillies and mares.

Sunday’s leading race is the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile. The $100,000 race is led by the Baffert-trained Tenma, the winner of the Grade 2 Starlet Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Los Alamitos on Dec. 7. The stable also plans to run Cipriani, Baffert said. Cipriani was the easy winner of a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs by 8 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita last October.

Baffert’s latest 3-year-old winner is San Saba, a colt by Justify who won a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs by a half-length on Saturday. San Saba, who was near the front throughout, was timed in 1:17.35. He was third behind Madaket Road in a maiden race at six furlongs on Dec. 26, and had his second start on Saturday.

There are no immediate race plans for the Baffert-trained Gaming, who finished eighth of nine in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at a mile at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.

Gaming, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September and second in the BC Juvenile, started from the inside post, failed to settle and raced in traffic early.

“He was flat,” Baffert said. “I don’t think that mentally he’s right. It was over in the first 50 yards.”

Gaming was third as the 1-2 favorite in the Los Alamitos Futurity, also starting from the inside post.

“If he draws the one hole again, I’ll scratch him,” Baffert said. “His last two races have been a mess.”

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