Talamo hooks up with Baffert for strong opening-day slate of mounts

ARCADIA, Calif. – Joe Talamo is hoping for a fast start to the new season, beginning Wednesday with the launch of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

Talamo is expected to have mounts in at least three of the five stakes on Wednesday’s program, all on horses trained by Bob Baffert. Talamo has been riding more often for Baffert’s powerful stable in recent months, particularly during the Del Mar autumn meeting,

Wednesday, Talamo is scheduled to ride Nero in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs, Emboldened in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs, and Dabster in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. All three are trained by Baffert.

“The last part of Del Mar, Bob gave me some good opportunities,” Talamo, 28, said at Santa Anita on Friday morning.

“I’m excited for the meet. I’ve got some good young horses, which I haven’t had in a few years.”

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In November, Talamo won races on the Baffert-trained runners Coliseum in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds, Mucho Gusto in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes for 2-year-olds, and Nero in an optional claimer. Mucho Gusto returned to finish second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 9.

Emboldened, owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing, has not started since she won the Angels Flight Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita in May. In the La Brea, she will face the Baffert-trained Dream Tree, who is unbeaten in five starts, and the stakes winners Happy Like a Fool and Spiced Perfection.

Dream Tree worked a half-mile in 48 seconds on Friday, while Spiced Perfection worked three furlongs in 36.60 seconds.

Nero is part of a strong group of candidates trained by Baffert for the Malibu, including Ax Man, McKinzie, and Solomini.

Friday, Ax Man worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds, while Nero was timed in 47 seconds and Solomini went the same distance in 46.80 seconds.

Ax Man has not raced since a third-place finish in the Los Alamitos Derby in July, but Baffert complimented the gelding’s form on Friday.

“Ax Man is really, really good,” he said.

Copper Bullet, trained by Steve Asmussen, breezed a half-mile in 49.80 seconds for the Malibu on Friday. Copper Bullet, a stakes winner at Saratoga in 2017, won an allowance race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 23 in his lone start this year.

As of early Friday, Talamo did not have mounts in two other stakes for Wednesday – the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf, and the $75,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf.

Talamo will have added competition in the jockeys’ room with the return of Joel Rosario to Southern California after several years riding on the East Coast. Rosario, a former leading rider on this circuit, will ride Solomini in the Malibu.

Rosario, 33, has mounts in the other four stakes, including Kelly’s Humor in the La Brea and Gift Box in the San Antonio.

Rosario won 11 riding titles at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and Santa Anita from 2009-12.

Entries for Wednesday’s 10-race program were being compiled on Friday. First post time is 11:30 a.m. Pacific.