Bast, Eight Rings, Improbable Work Toward Breeders' Cup

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert put the finishing touches on three of his top runners—Improbable, Bast, and Eight Rings—with workouts Oct. 27 at Santa Anita Park in preparation for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at the Arcadia, Calif., track.

Although all three worked smartly, Improbable was the most eye-catching, breezing five furlongs in :59 1/5 as he readies for the Nov. 2 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1). Breezing by himself, the City Zip colt posted the fastest of 42 works at the distance under jockey Rafael Bejarano, who has picked up the Dirt Mile mount.

"He's ready. The mile, he's going to like that," Baffert said.

Baoma Corporation's Bast was timed over the same distance in 1:01 3/5, and Eight Rings worked a half-mile in :47 1/5. Their works were in company.

They are pointed toward Nov. 1 races—the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), respectively. Both are winners at Santa Anita, with Bast narrowly scoring in the Chandelier Stakes (G1) and Eight Rings taking the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) by six lengths. Those races were their first starts outside of one-turn sprints, going the 1 1/16-mile distance they will tackle in the Breeders' Cup.

"She got two turns. Eight Rings really got two turns," Baffert emphasized.

Jockey Drayden Van Dyke breezed Bast, though John Velazquez rides her—and Eight Rings—in the Breeders' Cup. Van Dyke told Baffert he was pleased with her breeze, in which she dispatched workmate Hot Sean well before the finish.

"She wasn't really strong on the gallop out. She was looking around," Van Dyke said to Baffert, who attributed it to Hot Sean not keeping up. 

Eight Rings had to extend himself to inch clear from his workmate, a horse Baffert said was an unraced maiden. He gradually did under urging from jockey Evin Roman approaching the wire and on the gallop out.

A winner of two of three starts, his only loss coming when he lost his rider early in the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1), Eight Rings recorded one of the fastest workouts by a 2-year-old in the past week at Santa Anita, though not as quick as an Oct. 25 move in :46 3/5 from Iroquois Stakes (G3) winner and fellow Juvenile pre-entrant Dennis' Moment. Eight Rings, by Empire Maker , is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables.

"His body, he is just a beautifully built horse," Baffert said. "He's light on himself, real light on his feet. He doesn't look like he's going very fast. He does it effortlessly like the good ones do."

Besides breezing Sunday, Improbable visited the starting gate for schooling. The colt has occasionally misbehaved in the starting gate or started slowly, like when he finished fourth in his previous race, the Sept. 21 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx Racing.

Baffert believes Improbable knows the difference between practice and afternoon racing but is optimistic the colt's experience with the Santa Anita gate crew will result in a better start. Despite his gate struggles, the grade 1 winner has a 4-for-9 record and earnings of $889,520 for owners WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Starlight Racing.

"He doesn't do anything (wrong) in the morning," he said. "You could throw a firecracker under his feet and he wouldn't move."

Whitney Stakes (G1) winner McKinzie, Baffert's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) hopeful, is scheduled to breeze Oct. 28.