Misremembered looks to pressure Grazen

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A few weeks ago, trainer Bob Baffert thought he would have a strong one-two punch in the Grade 2, $300,000 Swaps Stakes on Saturday at Hollywood Park with the accomplished Pioneerof the Nile and lightly raced Misremembered. But with Pioneerof the Nile being forced into retirement last week, Baffert now has to fly solo.

Misremembered has come a long ways in a short amount of time. Since making his debut on April 9, he has won twice and finished second most recently on June 20 in the Affirmed Handicap, this track's prep for the Swaps. But in order to win the Swaps, Misremembered is going to need to improve, because the Affirmed winner, Grazen, is back and appears to have a decided pace advantage in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Grazen has won three straight races since returning from a seven-month layoff. In each of his wins, he has led from start to finish, and in both his victories around two turns, he got away with soft opening quarter-miles.

It may be up to Misremembered to put some early pressure on Grazen, because none of the other six 3-year-olds entered in the race - including Eastern invaders Advice and Conservative - appear to have any semblance of early speed.

"I thought he ran a real nice race last time, but the winner just kept going," Baffert said. "He's a little green. He's a big, gangly horse. He hasn't come into himself yet. He needs a mile and an eighth. The farther the better for him."

Misremembered, a son of Candy Ride, was bred by Baffert and is owned by him and his friend, George Jacobs, who owns a pizza restaurant in La Canada, Calif. It was Jacobs who came up with the name, appropriating the word pitcher Roger Clemens used when asked why former teammate Andy Pettitte claimed Clemens had talked about using steroids.

"The Rocket made up that word," Baffert said. "Pizza George came up with it because this horse had been turned out for so long, we forgot about him. We misremembered him. We had to turn him out last year because he was all legs. He needed time."

Grazen will have to spot Misremembered six pounds after they carried the same weight in the Affirmed. He was a 2 3/4-length winner of the Affirmed, his stakes debut.

Advice and Conservative ran one-two, respectively, in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in April. Advice has run his best races on synthetic surfaces, and though Hollywood Park's main track is Cushion Track, it plays far more like a dirt track than the synthetic surfaces at other Southern California tracks.

Conservative has only run once since the Lexington. He struggled on an off track at Belmont Park when the Hill Prince was washed off the turf.