Nevada Beach's progress has him pointed to the Travers
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CYPRESS, Calif. - When Nevada Beach won a one-mile race for maidens at Santa Anita on April 19, he was not rated as one of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s leading 3-year-olds of 2025.
Slightly more than two months later, the rankings have shifted.
Nevada Beach won the $100,000 Los Alamitos Derby in his third start on Saturday, and is likely bound for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23.
Nevada Beach, an Omaha Beach colt owned by Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman and Karl Watson, finished 4 1/4 lengths ahead of the Baffert-trained Varney, who set a strong pace in the four-horse field. Varney had his stakes debut in the Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles.
“They were running,” Baffert said. “Those are two nice horses.”
Nevada Beach ran in the longest race of his career in the Los Alamitos Derby. He was second by 1 3/4 lengths to the Baffert-trained Gaming in the Affirmed Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on June 8.
“We knew he could get the distance,” Baffert said. “He was just getting going.”
Baffert said on Friday that Goal Oriented, who finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17, is an expected starter in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park on July 19. Baffert has won the Haskell a record nine times.
Plans for other notable runners, such as Gaming, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old of 2024; Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024; and Rodriguez, who was fourth in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 7, have not been finalized, Baffert said.
Gaming worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds on June 23. He won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September and was second to Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last November.
Gaming ended a five-race losing streak in the Affirmed. Baffert said Gaming could run in a sprint or a race around two turns.
“Gaming is a good horse,” Baffert said on Saturday. “I’m glad that he’s back to what he was. Is he better at one turn or two turns?”
Citizen Bull was 15th in the Kentucky Derby on May 3 and fourth in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes at seven furlongs at Saratoga on June 7.
Rodriguez won the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in April, but missed the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes because of a foot ailment. Rodriguez worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday.
“I haven’t decided what I’ll do,” Baffert said of plans for Rodriguez.
Baffert rates Rodriguez as a colt with the potential to score an upset later this year.
“I think I can get him back” to the way he ran in the Wood Memorial, Baffert said. “I didn’t have time to train him properly for the Belmont.
“He wasn’t going to win, but he could have run in the top three. He’s still changing. He needs to fill out.”
Other runners such as Barnes, winner of the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs in January, and Madaket Road, second in the Woody Stephens, have had recent works.
Barnes went a half-mile in 48 seconds on the infield training track at Santa Anita on Sunday.
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