Abel Tasman Back to Old Self in Santa Anita Workout

There are all sorts of adjectives you can use to describe Abel Tasman—champion, multiple grade 1 winner, barn favorite, trainer's pet. And if there was one thing the daughter of Quality Road  had almost never been accused of, it's being disinterested during her competitive outings.

Given her rock-solid history, Abel Tasman's fifth-place run in the Sept. 30 Zenyatta Stakes (G1) where she never picked up her feet was as much a shock to trainer Bob Baffert as any watching the 1 1/16-mile test unfold. With the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) barely a month out, it was a less-than-ideal time to have such an uncharacteristic shift in form. So when she was paired with stablemate Vale Dori for her first workout since that loss, her Hall of Fame conditioner needed some reassurance that the Abel Tasman of old wasn't going the way of the past.

The tenacious girl who has wreaked havoc over her division for the better part of the last two seasons showed up over the Santa Anita Park track Oct. 12. With Vale Dori, winner of the Zenyatta Stakes, working to her outside, Abel Tasman and her stablemate covered five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 in a fashion that gave Baffert fair reason to think the worst race of her career will go down as an aberration.

"She went really well. She works with Vale Dori all the time, and they both worked really well," Baffert said. "(Abel Tasman) came out of (the Zenyatta) and she was a little quiet for a few days. She was just flat and dull. But today, I was really happy with the way she looked. Today she looked like the Abel we know. She looked really strong."

Baffert said a virus was going through his barn in the days leading up to the Zenyatta and scratched Mother Mother out of the Chandelier Stakes (G1) due to the illness. He said Abel Tasman's poor effort might have been a result.

"I think she was fighting it off. She didn't really get sick, but it just might have flattened her a bit," Baffert said. "She was just lethargic. I was like everyone else: 'What's going on here?' But after today, I feel pretty good. Joe Talamo worked her, and he said, 'Man, she felt great.'"

Even with her loss to Vale Dori, Abel Tasman should vie for favoritism in the Distaff off the strength of her victories in the June 9 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) and the Aug. 25 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1)— the latter of which featured a memorable slugfest with fellow grade 1 winner Elate. She was fourth in the May 4 La Troienne Stakes presented by Twinspires.com (G1) during her season debut but captured the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) over the Churchill Downs surface last year.

In addition to his Distaff hopefuls, Baffert also worked unbeaten grade 1 winners Dream Tree and Game Winner at Santa Anita Friday. Dream Tree went five furlongs in a bullet :59 2/5 in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), and Game Winner, the likely favorite for the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), worked four furlongs in :47 1/5.

"He looked really good. He's just getting stronger and stronger," Baffert said of Game Winner, adding that he would likely have all of his horses' pre-Breeders' Cup works at Santa Anita before shipping to Churchill. "It was a good day today."

Expected Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) contender Pavel was also on the Friday worktab, going six furlongs in 1:14 4/5 for trainer Doug O'Neill.