Midnight Memories looks sharpest of Baffert quartet in La Brea
ARCADIA, Calif. – A flood of entries may not ensure trainer Bob Baffert will extend his record win total in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita on Monday, but the odds are in his favor.
Baffert has won the 3-year-old filly stakes eight times; his four entrants in the seven-furlong race make up half the field on Monday. All four have a shot – graded winners Midnight Memories and Under the Stars, along with stakes winners Fun to Dream and Ganadora.
“It’s hard to separate them,” Baffert said. “They’re all doing really well. They almost have the same sort of style.”
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While each Baffert starter possesses a degree of speed, Midnight Memories enters with the strongest recent résumé, having won the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes against older fillies and mares in her most recent start Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.
“She’s been pretty consistent, she’s just getting better,” Baffert said.
Midnight Memories, 4 for 5, will shorten to a sprint following a win at a mile and a sixteenth. She would have run back sooner, in the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes, but it was not offered this past fall at Los Alamitos.
Seven furlongs should be fine for likely favorite Midnight Memories, though the La Brea is tough on chalk. La Brea favorites have won only one of the last 11 runnings, and the last seven odds-on favorites all lost. During the same time frame, seven La Brea winners paid more than $20. Ramon Vazquez rides Midnight Memories.
Grade 2 winner Under the Stars drew the rail under Flavien Prat; front-running stakes winner Ganadora breaks from post 3 under John Velazquez.
Ganadora and shipper Hot Peppers are expected to vie for the lead. The field also includes Ain’t Easy, Kirstenbosch, and Awake At Midnyte. The $300,000 La Brea is race 8 on the opening-day 11-race card.
A case can be made for Cal-bred stakes winner Fun to Dream, whose win going seven furlongs at Del Mar was better than the head margin or 86 Beyer indicates. Fun to Dream got banged around at the break, lost position, yet rallied to her second stakes win and fourth win from five starts.
“I really think she’s better going two turns,” Baffert said. “She’s backing up a bit, but she’s doing well. At least she drew well out there.”
Fun to Dream, with jockey Juan Hernandez, breaks from post 6 and is expected to rally from behind.
Hot Peppers, a Grade 3 winner and runner-up in the Grade 1 Test, shipped from Belmont Park. Her ability to stay seven furlongs is uncertain, but the 5-for-9 speedster helps ensure an honest pace.
Ain’t Easy looms an upset contender following a third-place allowance comeback and sharp recent team work with graded winner Newgrange. Both worked six furlongs in 1:12.40, but Ain’t Easy went easier. She won her first two starts as a 2-year-old, including a Grade 2, placed in two graded stakes at 3, then stalled.
“She soured on me pretty good [in spring],” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “We gave her a couple month break and she’s come back and trained like her old self.”
Ain’t Easy is reunited with Joel Rosario, who rode her in both of her wins.
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