Game Winner, Instagrand might meet in San Felipe

ARCADIA, Calif. – The undefeated 3-year-olds Game Winner, Improbable, and Instagrand worked at Santa Anita on Friday morning, and a couple of them could be headed for the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 9.

Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 in company with a stablemate. Unraced since a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2, Game Winner began two lengths behind his stablemate and drew alongside in early stretch.

“He got a little tired at the end,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s supposed to get tired.

“The track is a little deep.”

Baffert has said the San Felipe is a goal for Game Winner. The race is a key prep for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

Instagrand, who has not raced since winning the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes by 10 1/4 lengths at Del Mar last August, worked six furlongs from the gate in 1:13.60. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer timed Instagrand’s final quarter-mile in “24 and change.”

Hollendorfer said Instagrand will be nominated to stakes “everywhere” and said the $500,000 San Felipe is a possibility.

The Bob Baffert-trained Improbable, who won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity on Dec. 8, worked six furlongs in 1:15. He has worked steadily since early January. Baffert has not stated a race goal for Improbable.