Tenma gives Baffert eighth consecutive Starlet triumph

CYPRESS, Calif. - Tenma was an eager filly from the start of Saturday’s Grade 2 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course, surprising jockey Juan Hernandez by disputing the pace.

“The plan was to stay behind the speed,” Hernandez said. “She broke really fast and she wanted to be on the lead. I let her go.”

Tenma dueled with 7-1 Look Forward throughout the $201,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles and pulled clear in the final sixteenth to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

“It was a little different,” Hernandez said of the winning strategy. “I always play the break and it worked out.”

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“It was the first time she ran on the lead. She worked super a few weeks ago. I knew she’d be tough to beat.”

Tenma ($7) gave trainer Bob Baffert a record eighth consecutive win in the Starlet, the leading race at Los Alamitos for 2-year-old Thoroughbred fillies. Baffert has won the race 11 times in his career, including three times at Hollywood Park, which closed in 2013.

On Saturday, Tenma was timed in 1:44.16 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 83.

“I thought she would bring her ‘A’ game today,” Baffert told Los Alamitos publicity.

Look Forward finished nine lengths clear of 8-5 favorite Vodka With a Twist, who was second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 1. Vodka With a Twist was third or fourth for the first six furlongs, but did not pose a threat in the stretch.

Mawu and Nooni, also trained by Baffert, finished fourth and fifth, and were followed by Practical Dream and Aunt Mo.

Tenma races for Susan and Henry Chu’s Baoma Corp., who also won the Starlet with Baffert for three consecutive years with Bast (2019), Varda (2020) and Eda (2021).

Tenma, by Nyquist, was purchased for $850,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in-training in April. A winner of 3 of 4 starts, Tenma has earned $369,000. She won her first two starts in a maiden race at Del Mar on Aug. 18 and her stakes debut in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Sept. 7.

Tenma was a well-beaten third in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 5 in her first start at the distance.

In the Starlet, Tenma and Look Forward dueled through fractions of 23.41 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 48.25 for a half-mile. The two pulled clear of the chasing pack in early stretch, with Look Forward holding a head lead with a furlong to go, and Tenma already seven clear of Vodka With a Twist.

The Starlet Stakes was Look Forward’s second start. She won a six-furlong maiden race from the front at Del Mar for trainer Ben Cecil on Nov. 8. Cecil died on Nov. 29 of a cancer-related illness.

Look Forward, owned and bred by Paul and Zillah Reddam, was recently transferred to trainer Michael McCarthy. Mario Gutierrez rode Look Forward on Saturday.

McCarthy described Look Forward’s performance in the Starlet as a “big effort.”

“She walked into the paddock like she’d done it a dozen time before,” McCarthy said. “She warmed up well.

“Mario gave her a great ride. She certainly was game in defeat.”

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