Arrogate Wins Easy at Del Mar; Travers Next?

Juddmonte Farms' Arrogate cruised to his third straight victory in Southern California Aug. 4 at Del Mar and may be heading east for the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course.

The Unbridled's Song colt trained by Bob Baffert continued to work through his conditions Thursday afternoon with a 1 3/4-length allowance victory against two other horses in a scratch-shortened field.

Arrogate broke a bit slow, patiently settled behind the two other horses, moved into contention in the final turn of the 1 1/16-mile test, and proceeded to the wire under a hand ride from jockey Rafael Bejarano.

Off at 1-9, Arrogate hit the wire in 1:41.76 for his third straight win at 1 1/16 miles. He broke his maiden June 5 at Santa Anita Park by 4 1/2 lengths, then claimed an allowance by 5 1/4 lengths June 24, also at Santa Anita.

But those two starts were both frontrunning efforts, albeit with relatively slow paces. On Thursday, the colt raced three lengths behind Kristo after a quarter in :24.13. He advanced slightly after a half in :48.34, overcame Teniente Coronel with ease as Kristo hit six furlongs in 1:12.12, and rallied past the game frontrunner in the final three-sixteenths.

"The last two times he ran, he ran tremendous races," Bejarano said before the Thursday allowance. "I think he's prepared for a big race and he's been training really well, so this should be an easy race for him to try to prepare for a big race."

After a third-place run in his April debut at Los Alamitos Race Course, Arrogate now has a 3-0-1 record from four starts, with earnings of $114,600. He paid $2.10 to win and a 50 cent exacta paid $1.05 in the three-horse field.