Star 3-year-olds Songbird, Mor Spirit breeze

ARCADIA, Calif. - Songbird and Mor Spirit, two of the best 3-year-olds in California, worked at Santa Anita on Sunday for races in coming weeks.

Songbird, the undefeated champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds under jockey Mike Smith. Songbird will be a heavy favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.

Mor Spirit, a highly regarded contender for the Triple Crown, worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds in company with a stablemate. The workout was Mor Spirit’s first workout since he failed to finish a workout on Feb. 23 after pulling himself up in early stretch.

There was no such excitement on Sunday. Mor Spirit started behind his stablemate and the pair caught two rival horses, leaving a team of four running together in early stretch. Mor Spirit rallied wide to finish at the front of the group.

“It was good for him,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He loses interest when he’s by himself. We’re good.”

Baffert said a workout next weekend will determine whether Mor Spirit runs in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 12 or is trained toward the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 9.

“We’ll see how he works next week,” Baffert said.

Owned by Michael Lund Petersen, Mor Spirit won the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 6.

Songbird breezed alone and was well within herself throughout the exercise. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer timed Songbird in 35.80 seconds for the final three furlongs.

“That was as good of a half-mile as you can go,” Smith said.