McKinzie using Triple Bend as bridge to Met Mile

McKinzie beat three rivals when he finished 11th in the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 29.

“That’s a long way to go to get beat 28 lengths,” trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday. “Talk about doing the low crawl out of there.”

The comprehensive loss led to a brief vacation when McKinzie was flown back to California.

“I gave him a month off,” Baffert said.

A six-time stakes winner, McKinzie returns in Sunday’s Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.

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While McKinzie is well known for his success in races around two turns, including a win in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga last August, the 5-year-old is accomplished at seven furlongs. McKinzie won the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at the distance in December 2018.

The $200,000 Triple Bend is McKinzie’s first start at Santa Anita since a second-place finish to Vino Rosso in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles last November. Baffert considers the Triple Bend as a prep for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park on July 4.

“It should set him up,” Baffert said. “I can go from here to the Met Mile. I want to keep him one turn and then we’ll figure something out.”

McKinzie has won 7 of 15 starts and earned $3,318,560, all for Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. The loss in Saudi Arabia was a surprise considering the way McKinzie had trained at Santa Anita in January and February.

“He never picked his feet up,” Baffert said. “I think the trip got to him. He looked really light when he got there.”

In the Triple Bend, McKinzie will start from the outside post and will be ridden by Mike Smith. There are three other stakes winners in the field – Ax Man, Fashionably Fast, and Flagstaff – and the stakes-placed Dark Vadar.

Flagstaff won the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita on March 7 and was a fast-closing second after a slow start in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on April 18.

The Triple Bend will be the graded stakes debut for Fashionably Fast, who has won six consecutive races since July. Fashionably Fast has won four stakes for California-breds since October at distances ranging from six furlongs to a mile.

Trained by Dean Pederson, Fashionably Fast is quick enough to set the pace, but could yield that position to the Baffert-trained Ax Man. Tiago Pereira has ridden Fashionably Fast through the winning streak and will be aboard on Sunday.

“I think we can be tactical,” Pederson said. “If I’ve got to give Tiago instructions at this stage of the game, I’m in trouble.”

The Triple Bend is the first start for Fashionably Fast since a win in the Tiznow Stakes at a mile on March 1.

“We’ll take our shot and evaluate things afterward,” Pederson said. “If we get a drubbing, we can go back to Cal-breds. If he runs big, we’ll worry about our next move after the race.”