Oviedo hoping to beat good friend Baffert in Lazaro Barrera Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The odds-on favorite might be a cinch in the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, though five other 3-year-olds were entered before Mucho Gusto took a hit at the post-position draw.

“I love the rail again,” jockey Joe Talamo said. He was joking, because no one wants the rail in a seven-furlong sprint. It might not matter. Mucho Gusto is the class of the field and the 4-5 favorite by linemaker Jon White. Mucho Gusto’s weapon is speed.

“He’s such a quick horse out of the gate, he’s not one you want to try and sit back and be cute with,” Talamo said. “We’ll try and break sharp and try to wire them.”

Depending on the pace pressure by front-runner Principe Carlo, Mucho Gusto could be gone. Trained by Bob Baffert and owned by Michael Peterson, Mucho Gusto has won three of five starts, including two Grade 3 stakes.

If Mucho Gusto is compromised by pace, post, or bad luck, the $100,000 Barrera is open. Graded winner Sparky Ville is 5-2 while returning to his preferred sprint trip. Vantastic is 5-1 while moving from turf with impressive works on dirt. Synthesis and Principe Carlo are 12-1.

Manhattan Up, however, enters with the greatest longshot appeal. The improving colt moves up following a first-level allowance win that was more impressive visually than the modest 81 Beyer Speed Figure. Due to the influence of speed figures on wagering pools, Manhattan Up’s 6-1 early price is likely to hold.

Phil Oviedo trains Manhattan Up, whose rider, Tiago Pereira, also works him. “Every time [Pereira] gets off him, he tells me he’s getting better,” Oviedo said. “The last couple times, he said, ‘Man, this horse is changing.’ ”

Manhattan Up, named for the cocktail, has won two of six for owners John Warren and Charles Gust. He won his last two dirt sprints, maiden and allowance, by open lengths. If he runs well Saturday at seven furlongs, Oviedo could stretch him out for the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on June 16.

But the Barrera gives Oviedo his best chance to upset longtime friend Baffert in a stakes race. Baffert and Oviedo, both 66, have been friends for more than 40 years. They attended high school together in Nogales, Ariz.

“We go way back. He’s always been a good friend, and I used to be able to outrun him in Arizona,” Oviedo said. “But now, Bobby’s second string is better than my first string.”

The Barrera is the first stakes since Jan. 1, 1999, in which both Baffert and Oviedo had starters. Baffert won with odds-on General Challenge and gave Oviedo a ribbing for starting 65-1 Corsair’s Bounty.

Oviedo hopes to turn the tables Saturday with Manhattan Up over Mucho Gusto. “I know Bobby is not happy with the 1 hole – he’s pissed,” Oviedo said this week in the Santa Anita grandstand, within earshot of Baffert. “And the way my horse closes down the lane …”