Baffert sends in Crystal Ball for Coaching Club American Oaks

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While trainer Bob Baffert will give Gamine more time to recover from her ultra-impressive victory in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park last month, he will seek another major Grade 1 victory for 3-year-old fillies when he sends out Crystal Ball in Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

Crystal Ball, a daughter of Malibu Moon, finished third in her debut going a mile in May at Santa Anita and then came back to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden race by 6 1/4 lengths on June 14, racing on the lead throughout.

“She’s sort of a grinder-type,” Baffert said Wednesday during a national conference call. “She has speed, but a grinder. Her first race, I ran her long, she wasn’t quite ready. Her second race was really a strong race. We’ve always thought highly of her, it’s there. She cost a lot of money.”

Crystal Ball was a $750,000 2-year-old in training purchase by WinStar Farm. She is part of WinStar Stablemates Racing, a fan initiative that started 10 years ago and has turned into a racing syndicate. WinStar Stablemates leases the horses – 15 fillies – from WinStar and pays all the expenses outside the initial cost of the horse. Elliot Walden, president of WinStar, said the WinStar Stablemates has won five of its last six races, including the Iowa Distaff with Abounding Star.

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Two of the wins have come from Paris Lights, who also is entered in the Coaching Club American Oaks. Paris Lights, a daughter of Curlin trained by Bill Mott, won a maiden race by 6 3/4 lengths on May 31 and came back to win a first-level allowance by 3 1/4 lengths on June 27. Both races were at 1 1/16 miles around two turns.

Mott also will send out Antoinette, a daughter of Hard Spun who has wins on dirt and turf but is returning to the dirt after a third in the Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes on June 20 at Belmont.

The favorite for the Coaching Club will be Tonalist’s Shape, who has won 6 of 7 starts, including the Grade 3 Forward Gal and, most recently, the Hollywood Wildcat Stakes on May 15.

“Everybody seems to think she’s much better with the blinkers and I do, too,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Wednesday.

The CCA Oaks field, from the rail out, is Tonalist’s Shape, Antoinette, Altaf, Velvet Crush, Crystal Ball, and Paris Lights.