Cruel Intention points to Golden State Juvenile

ARCADIA, Calif. – Cruel Intention, the sparkling winner of a maiden special weight race for California-bred 2-year-olds at Santa Anita last Saturday, was trainer Bob Baffert’s 15th juvenile maiden winner since mid-July.

Cruel Intention fills a void on the Baffert team as a runner eligible for statebred stakes. Baffert said on Sunday that Cruel Intention will be pointed for the $200,000 Golden State Juvenile at seven furlongs for statebreds at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.

By Smiling Tiger, Cruel Intention led throughout a six-furlong maiden race to win by 5 1/2 lengths under jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who did not urge the colt in the final sixteenth. Owned by Jungle Racing, Larry Roth’s LNJ Foxwoods, and Nexus Racing, Cruel Intention was purchased for $200,000 at the Barretts April sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Baffert’s other 2-year-old winners, in chronological order since the start of the Del Mar summer meeting in July, are Mother Mother, Chasing Yesterday, Roadster, Der Lu, The Aurelia Factor, Game Winner, Fighting Mad, Tale of the Union, Magic On Tap, Much Better, Rayana, Mucho Gusto, Improbable, and Metropol.

Of those 15, 12 were listed as sold at public auctions for a combined $5.12 million.

Chasing Yesterday, a half-sister to 2015 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, won Sunday’s $77,500 Anoakia Stakes at six furlongs. Chasing Yesterday is owned by breeder Jane Lyons.

Game Winner beat maidens at Del Mar on Aug. 18 and has since won two Grade 1 races – the Del Mar Futurity and American Pharoah Stakes in September. Game Winner is the leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.

Improbable is under consideration for Sunday’s $70,000 Sunny Slope Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs. Improbable, a $200,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, won his debut in a six-furlong maiden race here by a neck on Sept. 29.

The Sunny Slope Stakes is restricted to horses who have not won a graded stakes. Sparky Ville, second in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 11 and sixth in the Del Mar Futurity, is the only runner with graded stakes experience and is an intended runner, trainer Jeff Bonde said.