Let's Meet in Rio moves forward in stretch-out

Let’s Meet in Rio, a 2-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert, made a successful transition to racing around two turns with a win in a one-mile maiden race at Los Alamitos on Saturday.

Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, Let’s Meet in Rio caught stretch leader Laoban in the final sixteenth to win by 1 1/2 lengths over that rival. Let’s Meet in Rio was fifth and sixth in his first two starts, which came in sprints.

“We thought he wanted to go long,” Baffert said. “It’s a good move forward.”

Let’s Meet in Rio is by Flatter out of Rio Carnival, who was winless in two starts. Rio Carnival, by Storm Cat, is out of Zenda, the winner of the Group 1 French 1000 Guineas in 2002 for trainer John Gosden. Zenda was later trained by Bobby Frankel and won an allowance race at Saratoga and was second by a neck in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland in 2002.

Zenda, Rio Carnival, and Let’s Meet in Rio are homebreds for Juddmonte Farms.