West Coast Takes on Accelerate in Awesome Again Stakes

Multiple grade 1 winners Accelerate  and West Coast are set to face off in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes (G1) Sept. 29 at Santa Anita Park, but while one is in top form, the other might need some time to reach his best.

According to West Coast's trainer, Bob Baffert, Gary and Mary West's 4-year-old Flatter  colt might need a race. West Coast last raced March 31, when he finished second in the Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1), and though he's been training steadily for his return, his Hall of Fame trainer said Sept. 26 that training doesn't get the large bay colt all the way there.

"He's the kind of horse I can't bring up on works," Baffert said of the 2017 Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and Pennsylvania Derby (G1) winner. "He's never been a great work horse. Racing is what really got him really good last year. He's just a big, strong, heavy horse.

"He's probably 80% because he hasn't run, but this is all there is. I would love to get a mile or a mile-and-a-sixteenth allowance or something. He's a good horse and has a lot of class, but he's running against one of the best older horses in the country."

So expectations for the Awesome Again are tempered for West Coast, with an eye on a potential step forward in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), a race in which he finished third in November.

"If he runs a good race and he's right there (with Accelerate), we'll be happy with that," Baffert said.

The Awesome Again is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" event.

Other than West Coast, Hronis Racing's Accelerate will face two familiar rivals in the 1 1/8-mile Awesome Again. In his 12 1/2-length $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) victory last time out Aug. 18, the 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky  defeated Prime Attraction (third) and The Lieutenant (sixth). Prime Attraction also ran behind the John Sadler-trained Accelerate in the March 10 Santa Anita Handicap Presented by San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino (G1) and the Dec. 26 San Antonio Stakes (G2), and The Lieutenant finished behind the chestnut in the Feb. 3 San Pasqual Stakes (G2).

BALAN: Accelerate Dominates Pacific Classic by Record Margin

Sadler did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

New challengers in the six-horse field include Isotherm, who is winless in eight starts since he won the San Marcos Stakes (G2T) in February 2017, and last-out E.B. Johnston Stakes winner Shades of Victory, who won the one-mile stakes for California-breds at Los Alamitos Race Course by a head at odds of 80-1. Shades of Victory, a 4-year-old Thorn Song colt, was claimed for $12,500 by owner/trainer Reed Saldana out of an April 7 race at Golden Gate Fields.

Entries: Awesome Again S. (G1)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, September 29, 2018, Race 11

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Shades of Victory (CA)	Martin A. Pedroza	121	Reed Saldana	50/1
2	2Isotherm (KY)	Geovanni Franco	121	Philip D'Amato	15/1
3	3Prime Attraction (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	121	James M. Cassidy	10/1
4	4The Lieutenant (KY)	Flavien Prat	121	Michael W. McCarthy	10/1
5	5West Coast (KY)	Mike E. Smith	123	Bob Baffert	7/5
6	6Accelerate (KY)	Joel Rosario	125	John W. Sadler	3/5