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Goal Oriented wins Sunday's Malibu Stakes, one of three Graded stakes wins for trainer Bob Baffert on Santa Anita's Opening Day Program. Photo by Benoit Photography, courtesy of Santa Anita
Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Santa Anita's official Opening Day, postponed from Friday to Sunday because of weather, was a big success for the track, with more than 41,000 fans on hand, and for trainer Bob Baffert, whose horses landed three of the graded stakes.
On the global scene, Japan had a weekend extravaganza of its own with Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds and older horses and more to come on Monday on the dirt.
Classic
Nysos and Nevada Beach, the two Baffert-trained contenders, raced side-by-side through the final sixteenth of Sunday's $200,000 Grade II Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes at Santa Anita, with Nysos, under jockey Flavien Prat, sticking his head in front in the last few strides.
The Nyquist colt ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.36, scoring his seventh win from eight starts.
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Goal Oriented wins Sunday's Malibu Stakes, one of three Graded stakes wins for trainer Bob Baffert on Santa Anita's Opening Day Program. Photo by Benoit Photography, courtesy of Santa Anita
Baffert has indicated without saying so definitively that the race was a prep for February's $20 million Grade I Saudi Cup -- a contest he has coveted since its inception, but has only three seconds to show from the five runnings.
Knightsbridge scored his fourth win, but first in a stakes race, with a 4 3/4-length thrashing of six rivals in Saturday's $150,000 Grade III Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
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Goal Oriented wins Sunday's Malibu Stakes, one of three Graded stakes wins for trainer Bob Baffert on Santa Anita's Opening Day Program. Photo by Benoit Photography, courtesy of Santa Anita
The 4-year-old Godolphin homebred by Nyquist finished 7 furlongs on a fast track in 1:22.32 with Junior Alvarado up.
Trainer Bill Mott said the $150,000 Grade III Fred W. Hooper, a one-turn mile for older horses Jan. 24, is a likely next-out target for Knightsbridge. White Abarrio was a late scratch and will train up to the Grade I Pegasus World Cup.
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Museum Mile wins Sunday's Grade 1 Arima Kinen at Nakayama Racecourse. Photo by and courtesy of Katsumi Saito
Also: Full Screen won Saturday's $150,000 Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct and Anegada won Saturday's $125,000 Last Hurrah on the Turfway Park all-weather.
Distaff / Dirt Mile
Standoutsensation won Friday's $150,000 Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn Park by 1 1/2 lengths over Queen Azteca. And Sterling Silver rallied nicely from near the rear of an eight-horse field to win Friday's $125,000 Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream Park by 1 1/4 lengths.
Sprint
Baffert capped off what, even for him, was an outstanding day at Santa Anita, as Goal Oriented outgamed stablemate Midland Money for the victory in Sunday's feature, the $300,000 Grade I Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Baffert entered half the original 10-horse field, but endured two scratches, including Cornucopian from an incident in the saddling enclosure, before things finally turned out right.
"I'm just happy that it turned out that we won it, because it was just so upsetting there for a little bit. We won the Malibu, which is so important," he said.
Filly & Mare Sprint
Usha also delivered a Grade I win for Baffert on Santa Anita's Sunday card, sprinting clear of the field midway down the stretch to win the $300,000 Grade I La Brea Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths. Formula Rossa was best of the rest with Simply Joking third.
The New York-bred daughter of Tiz the Law had won two straight at Del Mar before shipping to Keeneland for the Grade II Raven Run Stakes in October, where she tired late to finish seventh.
On Sunday at Oaklawn Park, Foie Gras won the $135,000 Oaklawn Anywhere Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by 2 3/4 lengths.
Turf
Cabo Spirit led the way in Sunday's $100,000 Grade III San Gabriel at Santa Anita, dug in when challenged turning for home and held on to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Astronomer. Mandego was third and the favorite, Stay Hot, settled for fourth.
Montador, a Godolphin homebred colt by Nyquist, won Saturday's $100,000 Woodchopper Stakes for 3-year-olds at Fair Grounds by 4 1/2 lengths.
Filly & Mare Turf
Ambaya rallied from mid-pack to win Sunday's $300,000 Grade I American Oaks at Santa Anita by 1/2 length over the favorite, Cliffs. The Ghostzapper filly, with Kazushi Kimura in the irons for trainer Jonathan Thomas, ran 1 1/4 miles on good turf in 2:01.02.
Hear the Queen took Saturday's $100,000 Pago Hop Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Fair Grounds by 1 length over Cheetah Lady.
Turf Mile
Hiding in Honduras, making just his third start, was up in the final strides to win Sunday's $200,000 Grade II Mathis Mile at Santa Anita by a head over Tempus Volat. Hiding in Honduras, a Dialed In colt, finished in 1:35.13. Antonio Fresu rode for trainer Jonathan Thomas and owner Robert La Penta.
Turf Sprint
Moon Spun got her third straight victory with a front-running success in Saturday's $100,000 Abundantia Stakes for fillies and mares at Gulfstream Park.
The 2-year-olds
Counting Stars got a wide early trip in Saturday's $150,000 Year's End Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Oaklawn Park, closed on the leaders through the turn and took their measure in the stretch, winning off by 6 lengths. Newtown Pike was the best of the rest.
An Honor A.P. filly, Counting Stars ran 1 mile on a fast track in 1:38.68 for jockey Francisco Arrieta. She now is 3-for-4.
Hollywood Import led throughout Saturday's $100,000 Heft Stakes for 2-year-olds at Laurel Park and held well to win by 1 3/4 lengths from Probably Dreaming. Also sired by Lane's End Farm stallion Honor A.P., the Gary Capuano trainee, scampered 7 furlongs on a fast track in 1:27.06 and earned his second win in his fourth trip.
Only three went to the post in the companion $100,000 Gin Talking Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Peach Tie prevailing by 8 lengths over the odds-on favorite, Just Philtored. Peach Tie, a Preservationist filly, was clocked in 1:27.30 while winning for the fourth time from five starts.
Around the world, around the clock
Japan
Three days, three Grade I races to wind up the season.
Lovcen got things going in the big late-season 2-year-old test, Saturday's Grade I Hopeful Stakes at Nakayama. The race shaped up as wide open with none of the starters owning so much as a Grade 2 win.
Lovcen, making just his second career start, jumped to the top of the class as jockey Kohei Matsuyama found running room at just the right time on the stretch turn and Lovcen did the rest, winning by 1/2 length.
"Since his first win was over yielding ground, the colt has proven his versatility today so we have a lot to look forward to in his future starts," Matsuyama said. Indeed.
On Sunday, 3-year-old Museum Mile was up in the final strides to defeat 111-1 long shot Cosmo Kuranda in the Grade I Arima Kinen. The off-the pace victory capped a busy and productive season for the Leontes colt, who also landed the Grade I Satsuki Sho or Japanese 2,000 Guineas and finished second in the Grade I Tenno Sho (Autumn) while taking on older horses for the first time.
The victory in the Arima Kinen, at 100 meters more than 1 1/2 miles, indicates Museum Mile could be a candidate for some of the big international middle-distance races in 2026.
Regalaria, a 4-year-old filly who won last year's Arima Kinen, settled for fourth this time around the Nakayama Racecourse turf with Danon Decile third.
On Monday, the action switches to the dirt at Oi Racecourse with a field including most of Japan's top specialists on that surface -- most other than Saudi Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic winner Forever Young, that is.
Among the likely ones are 4-year-old Mikki Fight, second to Forever Young in the Japan Dirt Classic, and 3-year-olds Narukami and Natural Rise. This one is well worth a look with an eye toward big-money dirt races around the world in 2016.
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