Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Baffert returns to racing roots
Long before trainer Bob Baffert was inducted into the racing Hall of Fame, saddled a Triple Crown winner in American Pharoah, and won the world’s richest Thoroughbred race with Pegasus World Cup hero Arrogate, he spent the occasional weekend at Sunland Park in New Mexico.
The teenaged Baffert soaked in stories told by prominent horsemen Bubba Cascio, Walter Merrick, and J.B. Montgomery during visits from Arizona. He would later return to Sunland as a trainer in his own right and experienced a life-changing win at the track in a derby for Quarter Horses.
In the years since, Baffert has won the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby for Thoroughbreds three times, and he has the probable favorite for Sunday’s renewal in Bronze Age. The horse is part of an overflow field of 16 entered Wednesday for the 1 1/8-mile race. The maximum the gate can hold is 12, so four horses were excluded.
The field, from the rail with riders, is: Shareholder Value, Javier Castellano; Hedge Fund, Jose Ortiz; Bronze Age, Martin Garcia; Oxford Lane, Richard Eramia; Irap, Mario Gutierrez; Dilettante, Gary Stevens; Kimbear, Joe Talamo; Wine N Divine, Miguel Perez; Hence, Alfredo Juarez Jr.; Balandeen, Channing Hill; Total Tap, Florent Geroux; and Conquest Mo Money, Jorge Carreno.
Bronze Age, who races for Arrogate’s owner, Juddmonte Farms, comes into the Sunland Derby off a maiden special weight route win at Santa Anita for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93.
On the same card, Baffert has the probable favorite in the $200,000 Sunland Oaks with Grade 1 winner Noted and Quoted.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for Sunland,” Baffert said. “I used to go there with my dad when I was 14. It was a fun trip driving there. It took us about five hours. We’d go to the races, buy tack. We’d go to Johnny Bean’s Tack Shop. They had everything – saddles, equipment, bandages. We loaded up.”
Baffert eventually made his way back to Sunland as a trainer and in 1982 won the track’s West Texas Derby for Quarter Horses with Love N Money. The horse raced for M.R. Goodman. Love N Money was by Easy Jet and was ridden by Bobby Adair.
“It was my first $100,000 stakes win,” Baffert said. “After that, I went from driving a pickup to a BMW. “I finally hit a lick!” The Sunland Derby is the final 85-point race for the Kentucky Derby, and the first four finishers will earn points on a scale of 50-20-10-5. The Sunland Oaks has the same points schedule for the Kentucky Oaks.
The Sunland Oaks will be the first start of the year for Noted and Quoted, who is expected to face Ghalia, Kell Paso, Mattie Ross, Soft Cheese, and What What What.
Sunday’s card of seven stakes will be an all-Thoroughbred program featuring 10 races. The card starts at 1:30 p.m. Mountain, with the Sunland Derby slotted as the ninth at 5:28 p.m. There will be a free ontrack handicapping seminar at noon featuring Tom Dawson, Robert Geller, and Julie Farr.
The Sunland Derby is back after a one-year absence. It was replaced in 2016 by the $400,000 Sunland Festival of Racing Stakes due to an outbreak of the equine herpesvirus earlier in the meet.
The forecast for Sunday calls for sunny and windy conditions with a high of 83 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.
Options for Mopotism
Mopotism, who won the local prep for the Sunland Oaks, the Island Fashion, has a couple of options for her next start, trainer Doug O’Neill said Tuesday. Mopotism ran third in the Grade 1 Starlet at Santa Anita as a juvenile last year.
“It looks like she’ll be pointed for the Ashland or Fair Grounds Oaks,” O’Neill said. “It’s just really whatever is in her best interest.”
O’Neill said he would be meeting with owner Paul Reddam to determine what direction to take with Mopotism. The Grade 1, $500,000 Ashland is April 8 at Keeneland, and the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks is April 1.
Mopotism, by Uncle Mo, ran second to division heavyweight Unique Bella in the Grade 2 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita one start before taking the Island Fashion.
Iron Fist eyes New Orleans
Iron Fist, who won the $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup last month at Sam Houston, is under consideration for the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap on April 1 at Fair Grounds, said trainer Steve Asmussen. The horse worked at Fair Grounds on Monday, going six furlongs in 1:12.40.
“He’ll most likely run in the New Orleans Handicap,” Asmussen said. “He’s trained well there coming off the win. It’s the right time to try him.”
Iron Fist won at the New Orleans Handicap distance of 1 1/8 miles in the Maxxam and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95. He is a son of Tapit owned by Stonestreet Stables and Regis Racing. Iron Fist is a full brother to Grade 2 winner Anchor Down and a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Sweet Lulu.
Union Jackson, a romping winner of the Sam Houston Sprint Cup last month for Stonestreet, is scheduled to run next at Keeneland because he has fared so well over the main track there in the past, said Asmussen. Union Jackson is 2 for 2 at Keeneland. He earned a 95 Beyer at Sam Houston.