Arrogate’s vacation about over

ARCADIA, Calif. – Arrogate has had a quiet start to May, a peaceful period that is nearing an end.

The champion 3-year-old male of 2016, Arrogate has been perfect in two starts this year, winning the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28 and the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 25. He is the first horse to win consecutive eight-figure races.

Arrogate will soon begin training for an expected appearance in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 19. The main goal for the second half of the year is the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 4, a race Arrogate won last November at Santa Anita.

Arrogate returned to trainer Bob Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita on April 1 and was jogged in early April. More recently, he has been tack-walked at the stable. Baffert said on Sunday that Arrogate will soon resume racetrack training.

“I wanted to give him two weeks off,” Baffert said. “I’ve got to point for the Breeders’ Cup.

“He’s getting his weight back on. He’s happy, I know that.”

Owned by Juddmonte Farms, Arrogate has won 7 of 8 starts, and his earnings of $17,084,600 is a record for a North American-based Thoroughbred. Arrogate was third at Los Alamitos in April 2016 in his debut and has won his last seven starts.

Arrogate will not start at the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, which ends July 4. Without him, the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27 will be a more competitive race. The $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita is run at 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

The candidates include the Baffert-trained Collected, who won the Grade 2 Californian Stakes on April 22, as well as Follow Me Crev, Hard Aces, Midnight Storm and possibly Big John B and Prospect Park, according to Santa Anita racing officials.

Vale Dori to face big girls

For five months, Vale Dori has essentially had the California older-female division to herself, reeling of five consecutive graded stakes wins.

She is about to get company in the division – world-class company.

Vale Dori won the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday, a prep for the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on June 3, the top race for females of the spring-summer meeting. The $400,000 Beholder Mile is shaping up as the nation’s top race for fillies and mares of the first half of the year.

Aside from Vale Dori, the field is expected to include two champions – Songbird and Stellar Wind.

Songbird, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2015 and champion 3-year-old filly of 2016, has not started since finishing second to Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last November. Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, won the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park last month in her first start since a fourth in the BC Distaff.

Vale Dori was third to Stellar Wind and Beholder in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes last October. She has not lost in her six races since, including the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes on March 18.

In the Adoration, Vale Dori won by a half-length over Skye Diamonds, the winner of the Dream of Summer Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares on March 26.

As Vale Dori’s trainer, Bob Baffert, left the winner’s circle, he said, “This will set her up.”

Vale Dori has won 9 of 14 starts and earned $994,943 for owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Maktoum of Dubai. A 5-year-old Argentine-bred mare by Asiatic Boy, Vale Dori began her career in Argentina and raced in Dubai before joining Baffert’s stable at this time last year.

“She’s been a lot of fun,” Baffert said. “When she got here, she was kind of flighty. She’s getting better.”

Union Strike to Acorn

Union Strike, a close second in the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs last Friday, will be pointed for the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10.

The $700,000 Acorn Stakes is run at a mile around one turn and is for 3-year-old fillies.

“I think the one turn, with the big turns, will be perfect for her,” owner and trainer Mick Ruis said on Sunday.

Union Strike was beaten a head by Benner Island in the Eight Belles Stakes for 3-yearold fillies at seven furlongs on a sealed and sloppy track. Union Strike raced on the inside before jockey Brice Blanc angled her to the outside in the middle of the stretch. Union Strike closed well but just missed.

“We were unlucky to lose that race,” Ruis said. “She looked like the best horse. The winner ran well, too.”

Union Strike has won 2 of 6 starts and earned $302,160. Both of her wins have come in stakes – the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante last September and the Santa Paula Stakes at Santa Anita last month.