West Coast Invades Easy Goer for Baffert

Perhaps no race is more fitting for the Belmont Stakes (G1) undercard than the $150,000 Easy Goer for 3-year-olds.

Named for Ogden Phipps' homebred chestnut son of Alydar, Easy Goer thrilled his hometown fans with a career-defining and overwhelming victory in the 1989 Belmont. What made the triumph even more of a statement was that the afternoon had every right to become a coronation for Sunday Silence (by Halo), who captured both the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1)—where he barely edged out a dead-game and pinned-down-at-the-rail Easy Goer in one of the sport's greatest stretch duels.

Among the 10 competitors for the 2017 edition of the Easy Goer is Gary and Mary West's West Coast. Two starts back, the 3-year-old son of Flatter  , out of the champion filly Caressing (by Honour and Glory), missed by a neck in the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) April 15, after he drew clear in the stretch and got nailed by Belmont Stakes entrant Senior Investment in the shadow of the wire.

The Bob Baffert-trained colt, bred in Kentucky by CFP Thoroughbreds, then came back to win an optional-claiming allowance at Santa Anita Park May 20 as the prohibitive favorite. West Coast has won two of his four starts and has run his last three races at the Easy Goer's 1 1/16-mile distance.

Calumet Farm's Sonic Mule (by Distorted Humor  ) finished third in Gulfstream Park's Swale Stakes (G2) in February. That was followed up by a pair of out-of-the-money finishes in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and Pat Day Mile (G3) at Churchill Downs. Previously Sonic Mule, who is bred by WinStar Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, won three straight non-graded affairs.

Pletcher will also send out Repole Stable's Outplay. The son of Bernardini  , who is riding a two-race win streak, will make his stakes debut in the Easy Goer. In his previous race at Parx Racing, the colt scored an 8 1/2-length victory in an off-the-turf event at Aqueduct Racetrack April 8.

"I definitely think he's maturing," said Pletcher's assistant, Byron Hughes. "We knew he had talent, and in his last two starts he's really put it together. He acts like a more professional horse in the mornings and afternoons."  

Easy Goer S.

Belmont Park, Saturday, June 10, 2017, Race 2

• STK
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 3 yo
• 12:07 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Sonic Mule (KY)	Luis Saez	121	Todd A. Pletcher	10/1
2	2Lookin At Blessing (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	115	Nicholas P. Zito	20/1
3	3Wicked Macho (NY)	Jose L. Ortiz	115	Mark E. Casse	8/1
4	4Jamminwithbrandon (KY)	Angel S. Arroyo	115	Louis C. Linder, Jr.	30/1
5	5Local Hero (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	115	Steven M. Asmussen	5/1
6	6Tale of Silence (KY)	Manuel Franco	117	Barclay Tagg	15/1
7	7West Coast (KY)	Mike E. Smith	117	Bob Baffert	5/2
8	8You're to Blame (KY)	Javier Castellano	115	Chad C. Brown	4/1
9	9Outplay (KY)	John R. Velazquez	117	Todd A. Pletcher	3/1
10	10Perro Rojo (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	115	Nicholas P. Zito	30/1