Beware when Baffert ships for stakes

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Bob Baffert has been hot on the road. Mythical Power gave the trainer his sixth stakes win in the Mid-South region in the last two months on Saturday, when he was up by a neck in the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park.

"That was fun," said Baffert, who is based in Southern California.

The Texas Mile score comes on the heels of an Oaklawn season in which Baffert went 4 for 4 with his stakes shippers to the Hot Springs, Ark., track. First up was Conveyance, who won the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest on Feb. 20. From there, Freedom Star took the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri on March 3, Lookin At Lucky accounted for the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel on March 13, and Total Bull became a stakes winner in the $100,000 Fifth Season on April 8.

During that same period, Baffert sent runners to Sunland Park in New Mexico, where Freedom Star won the $103,000 Harry Henson Mile and Conveyance was second in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby. Both races were March 28. Conveyance and Lookin At Lucky are both headed to the Kentucky Derby.

In the Texas Mile, Mythical Power continued his love affair with the Lone Star surface, winning with a career-high Beyer Figure of 103. The number trumped the 101 he had earned here last year when he romped in the Grade 3 Lone Star Derby. His local record makes the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap on May 31 a consideration for Mythical Power, but no set plans for his next start have been made, according to Baffert.

"I mean, the handicap division in California, we've got to check that out," he said. "We'll let him tell us where we need to go.

"We're going to enjoy this one right now. I'm glad he ran like he can. He's a very good horse."

In the Texas Mile, Mythical Power rebounded from a fifth-place finish in a Santa Anita allowance on Pro-Ride Feb. 10.

"We gave him that freshening up, and he just started training really well on the synthetic," Baffert said. "All of the sudden lately, he's been training up a storm."

Mythical Power is a son of Lone Star Handicap winner Congaree and he races for his breeder, Peachtree Stable.

Plans pending for Euroears

Euroears set the pace in the Texas Mile then put up a fight through the lane only to be edged late by Mythical Power. The race was the first at two turns for Euroears, a multiple-stakes-winning sprinter.

"I was very proud of him," said trainer Bret Calhoun. "It was also a very tough beat.

"But it was a great race, and it gives us more options down the road."

The next start for Euroears has not been mapped out, but his connections will look at the 1 1/16-mile Lone Star Handicap.

"That's not completely out of the question," Calhoun said. "We may keep him a little shorter than that. But we'll consider it."

Euroears is based at Churchill Downs.

Ouija Board next for Bubbler

Bubbler won her first stakes on turf last Saturday when she rallied for a three-quarter-length win in the $50,000 Irving Distaff on the Texas Mile undercard. It was her fourth stakes victory. In all, she is 6 for 8.

"She's very talented," said Calhoun, who trains Bubbler for Du-Zee Stables. "I feel like the turf is going to be okay with her."

Bubbler had run once on turf earlier in her career, but caught a soft course in the Furl Sail at Fair Grounds and finished sixth. Calhoun felt firm turf would serve her better, and that's what she ran over in the Irving Distaff, earning a Beyer of 92.

Calhoun said Bubbler is now a candidate for the Grade 3, $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff at a mile on turf at Lone Star on May 31.

* Justasassycat, who is a full sister to 2008 Texas-bred horse of the year Stealth Cat, will make her first start against winners in the eighth race Thursday night at Lone Star. The first-level allowance sprint is for 3- and 4-year-old fillies bred in Texas.