Eight Rings redeems himself in American Pharoah

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert admitted to a bit of nerves before the American Pharoah on Friday at Santa Anita. He thought he had the best horse in the race in Eight Rings, but he had thought that when Eight Rings last ran in the Del Mar Futurity, in which he took a left-hand turn soon after the start and lost his rider.

Outfitted with blinkers and with John Velazquez sending him aggressively leaving the gate, Eight Rings was given an immediate cue as to what was expected, and he responded with a victory in the Grade 1, $301,404 race that serves as a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile five weeks from now.

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Not that Eight Rings was flawless. His ears circled like a helicopter rotor, and he swapped leads in the stretch. But he still checked in a comfortable six lengths in front of runner-up American Theorem. That’s raw talent.

Storm the Court was third, then came, in order, Express Train, Shoplifted, Defense Wins, Fore Left, Nucky, and Collusion Illusion, who was eased.

“He will wander,” Baffert said, referring to Eight Rings’ state of mind. “I was watching his ears. You can tell with his ears he’s checking everything out.”

Racing over a fast but dull track, Eight Rings covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.41, .69 faster than stablemate Bast took to win the Chandelier for fillies earlier on the card. He set fractions of 23.72 seconds for the quarter, 47.06 seconds for the half, 1:11.71 for six furlongs, and 1:38.11 for the mile.

“He had been training really well,” Baffert said. “He was prepped well. We knew this was going to be a tough race. We wanted to get away from there. He broke like a shot. We wanted to put his mind on running. I think putting the blinkers on really helped.”

Eight Rings was an impressive winner of his first start at Del Mar on Aug. 4 as an odds-on favorite, and was odds-on for the Del Mar Futurity. He luckily escaped injury after bumping Storm the Court and then crashing off the inner rail. Back at Santa Anita after Del Mar ended, he turned in three sharp works.

He wasn’t odds-on this time, but he was still strongly fancied, paying $4.40 as the 6-5 favorite.

“Now he’s ready,” Baffert said of the Breeders’ Cup. “When you have a good one like this, you want him to perform well.”

Eight Rings, a colt by Empire Maker, was part of a score of yearlings purchased in September 2018 by a partnership that included Starlight Racing, SF Racing, and Madaket Stables, all of whom were part of Justify’s ownership group. Baffert calls the partnership “The Avengers.”

Eight Rings’ groom is Eduardo “Lalo” Luna, whom Baffert entrusted with his Triple Crown winners, American Pharoah and Justify, as well as other top-quality horses like Arrogate.