Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Justify chills before Del Mar
CYPRESS, Calif. – Justify is having a cool time in the first week of July at trainer Bob Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita.
Without a defined race goal, Justify has been kept in light training in recent weeks, which will continue for the next several days.
“We gallop him one day and walk him one day,” Baffert said. “I’m just chilling with him.”
Justify, unbeaten in six starts, swept the Triple Crown in the spring. After winning the Belmont Stakes on June 9, Justify was shipped to Churchill Downs for a week and then to Baffert’s base at Santa Anita on June 17.
Soon, Justify and the Baffert stable based at Santa Anita will be bound for Del Mar, which opens its summer meeting July 18. The barn area opens on the weekend of July 14-15.
Baffert has not stated when Justify will have his next start.
Justify races for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners, and Starlight Racing and has earned $3,798,000. Justify has won four stakes, beginning with the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby prior to a sweep of the Triple Crown.
Baffert has two Grade 1winning older females being prepared for races this summer.
Abel Tasman, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2017, is a candidate for the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on July 14 at Delaware Park, Baffert said. Abel Tasman, who worked a half-mile in 47.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Tuesday, won the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes on June 9 at Belmont Park for her first win since last July.
Vale Dori, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational in 2017 but winless in her last five starts, worked a half-mile in 47.40 on Tuesday at Santa Anita. Vale Dori was third in the Santa Lucia Stakes on June 22 at Santa Anita, her third start of the year.
“She’s starting to wake up,” Baffert said. “She’s not where I want her to be.”
Baffert said he has not chosen a race for Vale Dori, who has won 9 of 19 starts.
Turf next for Paradise Woods?
Multiple Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods may switch surfaces for her next start.
Trainer Richard Mandella said Wednesday that he may run Paradise Woods in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf Aug. 4 at Del Mar. Mandella said Paradise Woods also is a candidate for the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt July 29 at Del Mar.
“I’m thinking of trying her on turf,” he said. “Her brother Forest Chatter was only turf. She’s got kind of tender feet.”
Forest Chatter won the California Flag Handicap for California-breds on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in 2015 and placed in two other stakes for statebreds the following year. Forest Chatter is winless in two starts this year.
Wednesday, Paradise Woods worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds.
Paradise Woods was third in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on June 2 at Santa Anita and has never raced on turf in her 10-race career, which includes wins in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks and Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita last year.
No Golden Gate agreement yet
The California Horse Racing Board is scheduled to discuss an unresolved financial issue between Golden Gate Fields and the Northern California satellite wagering network and the leading horsemen’s organization at its monthly meeting July 12 at Los Alamitos.
Last month, the racing board gave conditional approval for Golden Gate to race for six weeks, from Aug. 23 to Oct. 1, provided the racetrack agreed to terms on revenue sharing with the satellite network and reached a horsemen’s agreement with the Thoroughbred Owners of California.
The racing board gave Golden Gate Fields a deadline of Monday to complete those negotiations. Tuesday, the racing board issued a statement indicating that no agreements were in place but that “the parties have advised the CHRB of significant progress toward that goal.”
Golden Gate Fields officials have said they want to break away from a decadeslong arrangement of sharing betting revenue with the satellite network and develop an alternative system of betting “cafes,” where customers can place bets that would be treated as account wagers.
The Stronach Group, the parent company of Golden Gate Fields, operates XpressBet, an account-wagering company.