Baffert Preps Charlatan, Mucho Gusto For Returns

After losing Authentic, Improbable, and Maximum Security to retirement after the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) last month at Keeneland, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is readying to run current leaders from his restocked stable. Charlatan, Mucho Gusto, and Life Is Good are likely to see stakes races after he runs some 2-year-olds at Los Alamitos Race Course this month. Charlatan is pointed for the Dec. 26 Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1), opening day of Santa Anita Park's winter/spring meet; Mucho Gusto could run the same day there in the San Antonio Stakes (G2); and Life Is Good is a candidate for the Jan. 2 Sham Stakes (G3) there. On Dec. 2, Charlatan worked six furlongs in a bullet 1:13 at Santa Anita, matching his longest breeze since resuming training in the fall. The Speightstown colt has crossed the wire first in all three of his races, including a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park, though he was disqualified from that race for the presence of 3-hydroxylidocaine, a metabolite of lidocaine, in a post-race urine sample. Baffert has appealed that decision, attributing the positive test to accidental exposure from an employee who was wearing a pain-relief patch. Owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables, Charlatan was inactive this summer due to an ankle injury. "He looks beautiful," Baffert said. "He has three more works to go. He's getting slowly caught up in his breezes. We'll give him a couple sharp breezes to get him ready, and he should be fine." The Malibu, a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds, is also the target for rivals Independence Hall, Nashville, and Collusion Illusion. Mucho Gusto, out of action since finishing fourth in the Feb. 29 Saudi Cup for owner Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz, has a title defense in the Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park as his early 2021 goal. "I'm debating whether to give him a start opening day here in a prep for the Pegasus," Baffert said. "Last year I ran him fresh in the Pegasus, and he ran well. I figure after his next work or two, I'll know more about it." A stretch out likely awaits China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's Life Is Good, an Into Mischief colt who closed the recent favorite among individual betting interests in the first Kentucky Derby Future Wager after a blowout Nov. 22 maiden sprint victory at Del Mar. Baffert said he and WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden see the one-mile Sham as the next logical spot. Authentic, another son of Into Mischief, won the Sham this year in his stakes debut following a first-out maiden victory at Del Mar. Classier, eighth in the Nov. 6 TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1), is an intended starter for the trainer in the Dec. 19 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), has been given 30 days of farm rest. "I was going to run her in the La Brea," a seven-furlong grade 1 for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita Dec. 26, Baffert said. "But I wanted to freshen her up a little bit to get her ready for the spring stuff."