Dortmund to return in Saturday's Big Bear Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Dortmund, idle since finishing fourth in the Preakness Stakes in May, will return to action this Saturday at Santa Anita in the $70,000 Big Bear Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday morning.

Although the one-mile Big Bear has a smaller purse than any race Dortmund has run in since his debut win against maidens 51 weeks ago, Baffert said he thought it was the ideal spot to get him back racing and to prep for his main near-term objective, next month’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs.

Dortmund has raced twice at Churchill Downs. He defeated a first-level allowance field there last November, and was third behind stablemate American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby.

The Kentucky Derby marked the first loss for Dortmund, who won the first six starts of his career, most notably the Santa Anita Derby earlier this year and the Los Alamitos Futurity last December. He is unbeaten in four starts at Santa Anita.