ARCADIA, Calif. – A single trainer rarely controls a division as thoroughly as Bob Baffert controls California 3-year-olds. The situation reaches an extreme on Saturday at Santa Anita.
The Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes drew four entrants, all trained by Baffert, continuing a months-long trend. Baffert-trained colts foaled in 2020 won 18 of the 22 non-restricted special-weight maiden dirt races in Southern California since Del Mar last summer, and 7 of 8 dirt stakes.
The aftermath of the 2021 Kentucky Derby still hangs over the sport of Thoroughbred racing and its most famous horse race nearly two years later and three months before the 149th Run for the Roses is to be conducted, May 6, at Churchill Downs.
Blazing Sevens, who appears to be trainer Chad Brown’s lone Kentucky Derby hope at this point, will make his 3-year-old debut in either the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 18 or the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park on March 4, Brown said Tuesday. Both races are Grade 2s with a purse of $400,000. The Fountain of Youth is run at 1 1/16 miles, a sixteenth shorter than the Risen Star.
Banishing, the fastest 2- or 3-year-old maiden winner at the ongoing Fair Grounds meet, has resumed galloping after missing a period of training due to a cut on his leg.
Banishing was injured during the night of Jan. 20, forcing his connections, Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh, to scratch the colt from an intended Fair Grounds allowance-race start the following day. Walsh said Banishing became cast in his stall and opened a wound on a hind leg that required suturing.
“He started galloping again four or five days ago,” Walsh said Tuesday.
Forte
Violence – Queen Caroline, by Blame
Bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm ($80,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase by Silver Hill Farm; $110,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Repole Stable and St. Elias)
Eclipse Award champion Forte, who debuts among the top choices on Daily Racing Form’s 2023 Derby Watch list, has a pedigree that combines speed with a globally prominent classic family.
WHO’S HOT
Arabian Knight opens as the 6-1 favorite on the Daily Racing Form Derby Watch odds by David Aragona following his romp in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 28 at Oaklawn Park. As of midweek, it was unclear how Arabian Knight will qualify for the Kentucky Derby. Churchill Downs has banned Baffert trainees from competing at the track or earning Derby points through this year’s Derby. The next start for Arabian Knight is to be determined.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Private Creed, who was a closing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in November, could get a shot at a Kentucky Derby points race. Trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday that he plans to move the horse to dirt following his runner-up finish in the $100,000 Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile on Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park.
Private Creed raced with the pace over soft ground at Sam Houston and was just edged by Andthewinneris. Private Creed earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 85.
Time may have run out for Cave Rock to make his targeted comeback race, initially planned to be the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on Feb. 25 at Oaklawn Park.
“It’s getting tight,” trainer Bob Baffert acknowledged last weekend. “I leave the door open; it’s not closed completely.”
$750,000 Southwest Stakes, Jan. 28, 2023 [20 qualifying points for first (not awarded), 8 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, and 2 for fifth]
Winner: Arabian Knight, by Uncle Mo
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: John Velazquez
Owner: Zedan Racing Stables
Distance / time: 1 1/16 miles / 1:43.50 (sloppy, sealed)
Win margin: 5 1/2
Beyer: 96
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Arabian Knight has initially emerged from his tour-de-force run in the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest on Saturday at Oaklawn Park in fine fashion and likely will have a good amount of time between now and his next start, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday. The horse is scheduled to return to his Santa Anita base Tuesday, the trainer said.
