Look for Mastery to be prominent 3-year-old for Baffert in 2017
Much will be expected in the next six months from Mastery, who gave trainer Bob Baffert a record ninth win in the $300,000 Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity on Saturday.
Mastery is undefeated in three starts, including two stakes, and is the leading California-based hope for the Triple Crown. In the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, Mastery won the race at 1 1/16 miles by 7 1/4 lengths, a record margin in the 36th running of a race run at Hollywood Park from 1981-2013.
Judging from Baffert’s past winners of the Hollywood/Los Alamitos Futurity, Mastery could go on to greater achievements. His predecessors are a remarkable group with a wide array of accomplishments.
Real Quiet, who gave Baffert his first win in the Hollywood Futurity in 1997, won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and missed the Triple Crown with a nose loss in the Belmont Stakes in 1998. Captain Steve, who won the 1999 Hollywood Futurity, won the 2001 Dubai World Cup.
That year, Point Given, the winner of the 2000 Hollywood Futurity, was named Horse of the Year for his dominance of the 3-year-old division, including wins in the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.
More recently, Baffert won the 2008 Hollywood Futurity with Pioneerof the Nile, who was second in the 2009 Kentucky Derby. Pioneerof the Nile is the sire of American Pharoah, Baffert’s Triple Crown winner in 2015.
Mastery was Baffert’s third consecutive winner in the CashCall Futurity, covering the years in which the race has been run at the Orange County track. The last two winners – Dortmund in 2014 and Mor Spirit last year – are in training for winter campaigns at Santa Anita.
Mastery, who races for Everett Dobson of Oklahoma City, was purchased for $425,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale. By Candy Ride, Mastery won his debut at Santa Anita on Oct. 22, and his stakes debut in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 19.
“Those are three solid starts,” Baffert said on Sunday morning.
Mastery, the 1-5 favorite in the CashCall Futurity, gave Baffert an anxious moment in early stretch when the colt seemed to lose momentum after taking the lead. Mastery responded to urging by jockey Mike Smith to quickly pull clear in the final furlong.
“I didn’t like that,” Baffert said. “Mike shook him up a bit and he took off.”
Baffert suggested on Saturday that Mastery will have two starts in advance of the Triple Crown, but did not mention any specific races on Sunday.
Trainer Simon Callaghan is taking a more conservative approach with Abel Tasman, the upset winner of Saturday’s $301,380 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. Callaghan said on Sunday that Abel Tasman is unlikely to race again until the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks on April 8. His main goal for the spring is the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 5.
“I think we’ll be patient and bring her back for the Santa Anita Oaks,” he said. “I think she’ll get better and if we’re patient now, she’ll reward us.
“Hopefully, we’ll have her in May and at the end of the year.”
Abel Tasman ($27.20) closed from seventh in a field of nine to finish a length in front of the Baffert-trained American Gal, the 4-5 favorite. American Gal was four wide on both turns. In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, American Gal was seven wide and five wide and finished third, beaten four lengths by Champagne Room.
“Our filly ran her race, but lost ground,” Baffert said of American Gal’s race in the Starlet.
“She ran well. Is she a two-turn horse? I don’t know. Post position has been against her the last two outs. I think she got beat by a nice filly.”
The Starlet field included Union Strike, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante who was sixth in the BC Juvenile Fillies. Union Strike finished fifth in the Starlet, beaten 6 1/2 lengths. She will be turned out for a brief rest, according to owner Mick Ruis.
“She’ll get some nice grass in a field for three weeks,” Ruis said. “She’s growing a little bit. She came back sound and that’s a good thing.”