ARCADIA, Calif. – A 3-year-old colt suspected to have distance limitations is putting those doubts to rest this season at Santa Anita. Newgate, runner-up in a Grade 3 mile last out, won his first graded stakes Saturday in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis. Newgate won the mile and a sixteenth race by a neck over longshot Hard to Figure in a race conspicuously void of depth. All four runners are trained by Bob Baffert. While Newgate moved up on the list of top 3-year-olds in California, it is back to the maiden ranks for third-place finisher Worcester and back to the drawing board for Arabian Lion. The 2-1 second betting choice, Arabian Lion completely misfired. He finished last. :: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  Baffert credits jockey Frankie Dettori for the improvement of Newgate, who has changed this winter from pace-pressing stopper to off-the-pace closer. “He’s changed because of new tactics,” Baffert said. Dettori “has been teaching him slowly how to run.” It started with a pace-assisted runner-up finish last month in the Sham, and continued Saturday in the Lewis. Dettori positioned Newgate three wide in last place, never more than two and a half lengths off the slow pace. He rallied wide on the far turn, engaged pace-presser Hard to Figure into the lane, and won the stretch-long battle by a neck in 1:43.11. Newgate paid $4 as the favorite. Following his pace-pressing debut win last summer at Del Mar, Newgate flashed speed and faded in three subsequent starts. But last out in the Sham, ridden by Dettori for the first time, Newgate took back off the hot pace and rallied to finish second behind Reincarnate. The Lewis unfolded differently. Arabian Lion set slow fractions (47.76 and 1:11.98) but surrendered passing the quarter pole. Arabian Lion also finished last in his previous start, the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity. His jockey, John Velazquez, sensed Saturday would not be Arabian Lion’s day before the field reached the far turn of the Lewis. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2023: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more “I was in trouble by the three-eighths pole,” Velazquez said. “He started changing his breathing pattern, and I knew. Maybe he just doesn’t want to go that far. He had an easy lead; they were going easy enough.” Hard to Figure pressed the pace and got first run when Arabian Lion backed up, but Newgate gradually wore him down. Dettori said: “Last time it was a crazy pace and he finished good. Today he moved sharper and we beat some good horses.” One might debate Dettori on the “good horses” idea. The runner-up, Hard to Figure, was making his first start since finishing last in a Grade 3 sprint in November, and third-place finisher Worcester is a three-start maiden. What is not debatable is that Newgate is getting better. Where it leads remains uncertain. Neither Newgate nor any of the Lewis runners earned qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby due to Churchill Downs disallowing Baffert from running at the track or earning Derby points. Newgate has won two races and $181,975 from six starts. The son of Into Mischief is owned by a partnership that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables and Stonestreet Stables. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.