With La Canada win, Nafisa joins Baffert's loaded group of distaffers

ARCADIA, Calif. – An easy win by Nafisa in Saturday’s Grade 3 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita gives Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert an even deeper bench of older fillies and mares.

Nafisa, bought for $1.8 million as a yearling in 2022, is part of a group that includes Splendora, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar in November; Hope Road, who won the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga last summer; Seismic Beauty, winner of the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar last August; and Cavalieri, winner of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile last March.

Splendora is scheduled to start in the Grade 2 D. Wayne Lukas Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Feb. 7 in her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. The $200,000 Lukas Stakes was previously known as the Santa Monica Stakes.

Race plans for Cavalieri, Hope Road, and Seismic Beauty have not been finalized, Baffert said on Sunday. Hope Road, a comfortable winner of the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 30, has had three half-mile workouts this month through Monday. Seismic Beauty was recently sent to Baffert’s division at Los Alamitos, while Cavalieri is nearing a return to training.

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Nafisa, owned by Amr Zedan, won her third consecutive race in the $100,500 La Canada Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. She won a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 23, and an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Jan. 9. The three wins have been on dirt.

Nafisa lost her first eight starts of 2025 on turf.

“The key was the dirt,” Baffert said.

The recent wins have shown the promise that Baffert expected when Nafisa was purchased as a yearling. Nafisa is by Quality Road and is a half-sister to Sweet Loretta, winner of the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga in 2016.

“When we bought her, she looked like a slam dunk,” he said. “She had an unbelievable pedigree.”

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