Barossa, third in the Los Alamitos Futurity, makes first start for Brisset
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Barossa has a company line that leaps off the page heading into Friday’s featured eighth race at Oaklawn Park.
He was third in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in his most recent start Dec. 11 and since the race runner-up Messier has captured the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita by 15 lengths.
“It’s a pretty good line to follow,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said.
Barossa will be making his first start for Brisset on Friday, which marks a return to a normal Oaklawn schedule after four days of training and three days of racing were lost to last week’s winter storm. The feature, a first-level allowance for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles, drew a field of 11.
Barossa came to Brisset’s division at Oaklawn in late January.
“So far, we like what we see,” Brisset said Monday. “We worked over the track, and it looked like he worked very good.
“The weather has been a big issue. It’s not the best way to come into a race with the past week or so. We were able to gallop today. He’s been showing good energy, looks good. We’re hoping for a big run.”
Barossa, who shares a number of the same owners as Messier – including SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, and Robert Masterson – was previously based in Southern California with Bob Baffert. Brisset said the ownership group and Baffert believed moving to the Midwest would best suit Barossa.
Barossa won a Santa Anita maiden special weight at a mile in his third career start Oct. 15, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 87. He was ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar prior to the Los Alamitos Futurity, in which he finished nine lengths behind Messier.
Barrosa will be first Lasix on Friday after racing without the diuretic due to protocols in Southern California. Joel Rosario has the mount from post 4.
Barossa’s competition Friday includes We See It All, who ships in from Fair Grounds off a runner-up finish at a similar level Dec. 31, and Ruggs, a son of Gun Runner who was fourth in the $150,000 Advent Stakes on Dec. 3 at Oaklawn.
Brisset, 38, has a division of 16 horses at Oaklawn. It’s the first time he’s had a stable in Arkansas.
“After talking to our ownership groups, everyone agreed it was the right place to be to try to have a successful winter,” he said.
Brisset added the owners felt Oaklawn would be a good place to have horses prepared for the remainder of the season in Kentucky.
Brisset’s stable includes Yougiri, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Golden Rod in November at Churchill Downs. He said she could launch her season in either the Dixie Belle or the Grade 3 Honeybee, both later this month at Oaklawn.
Brisset has another 15 horses at Turfway Park and when 2-year-olds begin to arrive later this spring, his stable will swell to more than 40 head for the meets at Keeneland and Churchill.