Impressive winner Laurel River will be nominated to Awesome Again
DEL MAR, Calif. - Laurel River’s runaway victory in his two-turn debut in a first-level allowance going one mile on Monday at Del Mar could earn him a berth in the Grade 1, $300,000 Awesome Again Oct. 2 at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday.
“I think I’ll nominate him to the Awesome Again,” Baffert said. “He needed to go long. He’s not very big, so I had kept him short, but his work before this race was phenomenal. He woke up.”
Laurel River, by Into Mischief, is a Juddmonte Farms homebred. He has made one prior stakes start, in the Grade 3 Laz Barrera going 6 1/2 furlongs in May, and finished second to The Chosen Vron.
Laurel River, 3, got a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 96 for his win on Monday, which was his fifth career start.