Baffert to Saddle Half the La Brea Field

A shot at a grade 1 victory is why trainer Bob Baffert and his clients have four entered in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (G1), a seven-furlong dirt race for 3-year-old fillies Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park that has attracted a field of eight.

One of those contenders is multiple graded stakes winner Midnight Memories , a daughter of Mastery  , who comes into the La Brea off a grade 3 win at a mile and a grade 2 win at 8 1/2 furlongs. When Baffert was asked why he put the filly in a seven-furlong test, the answer came quickly.

"Gee, one. We need more grade 1s," he said. "I was disappointed to see less for next year. Actually, they need to be adding more graded stakes because there are not enough of them. They want to win graded stakes and compete at the top level."

Midnight Memories is a homebred for longtime partners Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman, and Karl Watson. The filly is the only graded stakes winner to date for Mastery, who is a grade 1 winner trained by Baffert and now stands at Claiborne Farm. The filly is a co-highweight in the La Brea at 122 pounds and will be ridden by Ramon Vazquez.

The "they" referred to by Baffert regarding graded stakes is the American Graded Stakes Committee, which annually evaluates and makes adjustments to the graded status of races depending on the quality of the fields the races have been (or not been) attracting. For 2023, the AGSC downgraded five races from grade 1 to grade 2: the Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack; Woodward at Belmont Park; Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs; Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course; and, Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita. One race got an upgrade: the Stephen Foster will be a grade 1 next year.

Overall, the number of U.S. graded stakes dropped by nine to 440.

Struggling to find a race has been the main reason La Brea challenger Ganadora 's 2022 campaign has been interspersed with layoffs ranging from six to 13 weeks. Baoma Corp. campaigns the daughter of Quality Road   who was purchased for $1 million at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni. The filly broke her maiden on debut Feb. 26 at Santa Anita by 6 1/2 lengths for Baffert and then got transferred to Sean McCarthy as Baffert served out a suspension.

Back with Baffert in July, Ganadora made her most recent start an impressive one by winning the Dark Mirage Stakes by eight lengths going a mile at Los Alamitos. She will be ridden in the La Brea by John Velazquez, who has won this race twice for Baffert—in 2008 with Indian Blessing and 2021 with Kalypso .

"There has been nothing for her since her last race, so we got her freshened up—actually freshened up all four, and now they are coming back ready to start," Baffert said.

Baffert's other two entries are Under the Stars , a stakes-winning daughter of Pioneerof the Nile who is owned by Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith; and, stakes winner Fun to Dream , a daughter of Arrogate who is a homebred for Baffert and Connie Pageler.

Under the Stars will break from the rail carrying 122 pounds and be piloted by Flavien Prat, while Fun to Dream will break from post 6 carrying 120 pounds and with Juan Hernandez in the irons.

"All four are pretty close (in ability)," Baffert said. "We are going to tell the jockeys to have at it and hopefully one of them will get there. It's the trip and the break. It is only seven-eighths so there is not a lot of thinking going on."

The trainer with the loaded La Brea hand did point to Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb's Hot Peppers  as the horse to beat. Hot Peppers is a daughter of leading Florida sire Khozan   and trained by Rudy Rodriguez. The filly won the Victory Ride Stakes (G3) and Jersey Girl Stakes earlier in the year before finishing second in the Longines Test Stakes (G1) behind Chi Town Lady . Hot Peppers comes into the La Brea off a fourth Sept. 2 in the Prioress Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course. She will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione.

Entries: La Brea S. (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Monday, December 26, 2022, Race 8

• Grade I
• 7f
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 2:35 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Under the Stars (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Bob Baffert	7/2
2	2Hot Peppers (FL)	Tyler Gaffalione	122	Rudy R. Rodriguez	8/1
3	3Ganadora (KY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Bob Baffert	4/1
4	4Midnight Memories (KY)	Ramon A. Vazquez	122	Bob Baffert	5/2
5	5Ain't Easy (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Philip D'Amato	6/1
6	6Fun to Dream (CA)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	Bob Baffert	5/1
7	7Kirstenbosch (KY)	Kazushi Kimura	120	John W. Sadler	15/1
8	8Awake At Midnyte (KY)	Mario Gutierrez	120	Doug F. O'Neill	8/1