In his first year since being reinstated by Churchill Downs Inc., trainer Bob Baffert has entered three fillies in the Jan. 5 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita Park, the first prep race of the year for the May 2 Kentucky Oaks (G1) in Southern California.
The $100,000 Santa Ynez, running in 2025 as part of Fasig-Tipton's new 3-year-old fillies series in partnership with 1/ST Racing, offers Road to the Kentucky Oaks points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
Although half of the eight-horse field are exiting maiden victories, a quartet of contenders have black-type wins or placings on their résumés. The likely favorite in Sunday's affair will be Reddam Racing's Look Forward. A decisive winner of her Del Mar debut Nov. 8 for Ben Cecil, she was transferred to the barn of Michael McCarthy soon after her trainer's death a few weeks later.
The Bolt d'Oro filly backed up her promising maiden win with a game runner-up finish to Tenma in the Dec. 7 Starlet Stakes (G2) after pressing the early pace for much of the 1 1/16-mile journey.
Cutting back to seven furlongs in the Santa Ynez, Mario Gutierrez retains the mount on Look Forward.
Look Forward will contend with the Baffert threesome in search of her first stakes victory. The Hall of Famer will saddle a pair for Baoma—Santa Anita debut scorer Howin and stakes-placed Mawu, as well as Silent Law, an impressive debut victress at Los Alamitos Race Course ahead of a front-running triumph in the Oct. 25 Anoakia Stakes. Silent Law was most recently second in the Desi Arnaz Stakes to Practical Dream, who also races in the Santa Ynez.
"That was sort of a disappointing out by her," Baffert said of Silent Law. "She had beat that horse before. I don't know what happened that day. She just didn't bring her A game. But we know she likes Santa Anita and she's come back to work well. We'll see what happens."
Baffert believes Howin and Mawu will be more effective when racing beyond Sunday's seven-furlong distance.
"I need to get races into these fillies," he said. "Mawu, she wants to go two turns. But she was a little heavy when she ran at Los Alamitos and I want to get her another out."
Her race at Los Alamitos was a fourth-place finish in the Starlet Stakes, a race in which Practical Dream ran sixth.
Howin, a daughter of Gun Runner , won first out by 3 3/4 lengths in a mile race at Santa Anita Oct. 12.
"She'll be better going two turns, but she needs to run," Baffert said.
Santa Anita Park, Sunday, January 5, 2025, Race 7Entries: Fasig-Tipton Santa Ynez S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Polythene Pam (KY) Kyle Frey 120 Librado Barocio 20/1 2 2Howin (KY) Kazushi Kimura 120 Bob Baffert 8/1 3 3A. Z. Wildcat (KY) Flavien Prat 120 John W. Sadler 5/2 4 4Practical Dream (KY) Antonio Fresu 122 Tim Yakteen 10/1 5 5Look Forward (KY) Mario Gutierrez 120 Michael W. McCarthy 2/1 6 6Mawu (KY) Mike E. Smith 120 Bob Baffert 12/1 7 7Silent Law (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 122 Bob Baffert 9/2 8 8Artisma (KY) Abel Lezcano 120 Richard Baltas 6/1
