Baffert hopes Starlet winner Faiza ends trend

CYPRESS, Calif. - Faiza is unbeaten in two starts after her gutty win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos, a record ninth victory in the race for 2-year-old fillies for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

What would truly make Faiza special is a successful 3-year-old season in 2023.

Baffert won his sixth consecutive running of the $300,000 Starlet with Faiza, who fought off a challenge from Pride of the Nile to win by a head.

Baffert’s last five winners struggled as 3-year-olds or later in their careers, failing to replicate the Grade 1 wins of their 2-year-old seasons.

Dream Tree won the 2017 Starlet, and two Grade 2 races at 3 in 2018. Chasing Yesterday was third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in April 2019, her final start four months after winning the 2018 Starlet. Bast made one start after winning the 2019 Starlet, winning the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita the following month.

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Varda won the 2020 Starlet, but did not race again until early this year when she finished third in three Grade 1 and Grade 2 stakes. Eda followed her win in the 2021 Starlet with a win in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita in March, her most recent start.

Faiza, purchased for $725,000 at a 2-year-olds in-training sale in May, will not race again until later this winter, with races at Oaklawn Park and Santa Anita likely to enter the discussion.

By the well-regarded young stallion Girvin, Faiza races for Michael Petersen.

“I think she’s got a big future in front of her,” Baffert said in the winner’s circle on Saturday. “We’ve loved her from the start. She was pretty expensive.”

Faiza won her debut in a maiden race at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 12, disputing the pace before pulling clear by 3 1/2 lengths. In the Starlet at 1 1/16 miles, Faiza stalked the pace before taking the lead in early stretch under jockey Flavien Prat.

“She relaxed,” Baffert said. “I didn’t know if she would relax. She won on the lead last time.

“She’s still very green, but she looks like she handled it well. She’s getting a foundation. She didn’t have the foundation of the other fillies.

“I know coming in here with one out, we were asking a lot. That’s when you find out how good they are.”

Baffert’s stellar record with juveniles in late-season races at Los Alamitos extends to the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity, a race he has won seven of the last eight years. Baffert has won the Los Alamitos Futurity a record 13 times from 1997 to 2020 which includes six runnings from 1997 to 2011, when the race was run as the Hollywood Futurity or CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park.

Baffert finished second last year when Messier was beaten a length by Slow Down Andy.

In Saturday’s $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity, Baffert has three candidates in Arabian Lion, Carmel Road, and Fort Bragg.

Arabian Lion, a $600,000 purchase at a 2-year-olds in-training sale earlier this year, was second in a seven-furlong allowance race at Keeneland on Nov. 4.

Carmel Road won a maiden race at a mile by 8 3/4 lengths at Del Mar on Aug. 26 in his second start, but was 13th of 14 after a wide trip in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 8 in his last start.

Fort Bragg won a maiden race at 1 1/16 miles in his third start at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

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