Accelerate outduels West Coast to win Awesome Again
ARCADIA: Accelerate outdueled West Coast to win the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Saturday in his fourth Grade 1 victory of the year.
Ridden by Joel Rosario, Accelerate already had a guaranteed berth in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic as a result of his win in the Pacific Classic in August. The 5-year-old’s fifth victory in six races this year merely solidified his status as the best older horse in the country.
West Coast was coming off a six-month layoff for trainer Bob Baffert. He hadn’t raced since finishing second in the Dubai World Cup. The 4-year-old colt was the 8-5 second choice in a six-horse field in which all the other runners were listed at double-digit odds.
Trained by John Sadler, Accelerate paid $2.60, $2.10 and $2.10. He ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.38.
West Coast returned $2.10 and $2.10, while Isotherm was another half-length back in third and paid $6 to show.
Game Winner pulled away in the stretch to win the $300,000 American Pharoah by 4 1/2 lengths and earn an automatic berth in the BC Juvenile.
The 2-year-old colt trained by Baffert ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.77. Sent off as the 1-5 favorite, Game Winner returned $2.60, $2.20 and $2.10.
Gunmetal Gray returned $2.80 and $2.10, while Rowayton was another length back in third and paid $2.10 to show. Both are trained by Jerry Hollendorfer.
Ridden for the first time by Rosario, Game Winner improved to 3-0 in his young career. The colt was coming off a victory in the Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 3, when he beat Rowayton by 1 1/2 lengths and heavily favored stablemate Roadster by 2 lengths.
Roadster has been regarded as Baffert’s top 2-year-old. However, Game Winner is quickly making a name for himself. He won his career debut by 5 3/4 lengths Aug. 18 at Del Mar and came back 16 days later to score the Futurity upset.
“This horse tipped us off this summer that he was going to be a good one,” Baffert said. “I don’t plan to do too much with him before Breeders’ Cup.”