Just two days before Saturday’s San Felipe Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert said he entered Potente in the Grade 2 race only because there really wasn’t anywhere else to run him without leaving Santa Anita Park.
“I’m throwing him in there in the deep end of the pool,” Baffert said. “You just need to get races into these horses and that’s what we’re doing. We’ll see what happens.”
It turns out Potente is a pretty good swimmer.
He needed just about all of the 1 1/16 miles but the Into Mischief-sired colt, who cost owner Peter Fluor $2.4 million as a yearling, got up in time under Juan Hernandez to edge 67-1 long shot Robusta by a head in the $200,000 Kentucky Derby prep race.
It was just the second career start for Potente, who won a six-furlong race Jan. 31 at Santa Anita.
“It was asking a lot,” Baffert said of pushing Potente from a maiden race to a Grade 2 stakes. “You know, [when] he broke his maiden he really didn’t run that fast, but [Kazushi] Kimura, who rode him, said he wants to go long. … I knew there was going to be a fast pace because there always is in these races. For him to pull it off, that was so exciting.”
The pace indeed was fast, with Baffert’s 4-5 favorite Brant, coming off a four-month layoff, and So Happy, a sprinter stretching out for the first time, going through six furlongs in 1 minute, 10.42 seconds.Both would fade through the stretch, with So Happy finishing 2 1/2 lengths back in third and Brant seven lengths back in fifth.
Robusta, making just his fourth start for trainer Doug O’Neill, took the lead in the upper stretch but could not hold off the winner.
“This horse has a lot of talent,” said Hernandez, who had a big day on his 34th birthday. “He’s big, he’s strong and he showed up today. … I think he’s going to be even better next time.”
Potente paid $18.20 as the 8-1 fourth choice in the field of seven after completing the distance in 1:42.92. The time was about two-thirds of a second slower than last year’s San Felipe victory by Journalism, who went on to win the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness and Haskell.
It’s way too early to think Potente will turn out like that, but he did earn 50 Kentucky Derby points, all but guaranteeing himself a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs. Baffert said Potente would start once more before the Derby; one possibility is the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, a race in which another Baffert colt, Cherokee Nation, is expected to run.
Co-owner David Michael Talla, right, and trainer Bob Baffert savor Splendora’s victory in the Grade I $300,000 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile.
(Benoit Photo via Asociated Press)
O’Neill said Robusta also would start next in the Santa Anita Derby.
The San Felipe Stakes was not the only Derby prep race Saturday, nor the only one with a surprising result. At Tampa Bay Downs, The Puma, winless in his only two prior previous starts, edged top choices Further Ado (2-1) and Canaletto (3-2) to win the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby at odds of 7-1.
A son of Essential Quality, The Puma ($16.80) raced wide around both turns in the 1 1/16-mile race but was able to outlast his rivals in 1:43.23. Javier Castellano rode the winner for trainer Gustavo Delgado.
More at Santa Anita
British Isles, who had never won a stakes race in 23 lifetime starts, picked a good time to win his first, rallying to capture the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap over Vodka Vodka and Getaway Car. Ridden by Diego Herrera, the 5-year-old son of Justify returned $16.40 after 1 1/4 miles in a pedestrian 2:05.17. It was the first Grade 1 win in North America for Herrera; trainer Richard Baltas also won the Big ‘Cap in 2021 with Idol.
Baffert and Hernandez teamed to win the first of four stakes races at Santa Anita when Splendora ($2.20) romped to a 5 3/4-length win in the Grade 1 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile. It was the fifth straight victory for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint champion, who ran the mile in 1:35.16. “Bob just told me, ‘Don’t look back and just have run.’ That is what we did,” said Hernandez.
Hernandez earned his third straight victory and fourth of the day in the race after the San Felipe, the Grade 2 Frank E. Kilroe Mile. Final Boss, by far the longest shot in the field at 31-1, beat favored El Potente by half a length to post a $65.40 victory for trainer John Sadler.
One highlight on the undercard came in the third race when Surfin’ U.S.A., a 3-year-old filly owned by Times sportswriter Eric Sondheimer and Barry Siegel, brother of the late handicapper Jeff Siegel, cruised to victory in an $80,000 optional claiming race. Ridden by Armando Ayuso for trainer Leonard Powell, Surfin’ U.S.A. returned $14.60 for her second straight victory.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: latimes.com
