{"id":209977,"date":"2026-03-08T05:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/209977\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T05:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T05:38:11","slug":"bob-bafferts-potente-wins-san-felipe-stakes-at-santa-anita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/209977\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob Baffert’s Potente wins San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just two days before Saturday\u2019s San Felipe Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert<\/a> said he entered Potente in the Grade 2 race only because there really wasn\u2019t anywhere else to run him without leaving Santa Anita Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m throwing him in there in the deep end of the pool,\u201d Baffert said. \u201cYou just need to get races into these horses and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out Potente is a pretty good swimmer.<\/p>\n

He needed just about all of the 1 1\/16 miles but the Into Mischief-sired colt, who cost owner Peter Fluor $2.4 million as a yearling, got up in time under Juan Hernandez to edge 67-1 long shot Robusta by a head in the $200,000 Kentucky Derby prep race.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

It was just the second career start for Potente, who won a six-furlong race Jan. 31 at Santa Anita.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was asking a lot,\u201d Baffert said of pushing Potente from a maiden race to a Grade 2 stakes. \u201cYou know, [when] he broke his maiden he really didn\u2019t run that fast, but [Kazushi] Kimura, who rode him, said he wants to go long. \u2026 I knew there was going to be a fast pace because there always is in these races. For him to pull it off, that was so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pace indeed was fast, with Baffert\u2019s 4-5 favorite Brant, coming off a four-month layoff, and So Happy, a sprinter stretching out for the first time, going through six furlongs in 1 minute, 10.42 seconds.Both would fade through the stretch, with So Happy finishing 2 1\/2 lengths back in third and Brant seven lengths back in fifth.<\/p>\n

Robusta, making just his fourth start for trainer Doug O\u2019Neill, took the lead in the upper stretch but could not hold off the winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis horse has a lot of talent,\u201d said Hernandez, who had a big day on his 34th birthday. \u201cHe\u2019s big, he\u2019s strong and he showed up today. \u2026 I think he\u2019s going to be even better next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potente paid $18.20 as the 8-1 fourth choice in the field of seven after completing the distance in 1:42.92. The time was about two-thirds of a second slower than last year\u2019s San Felipe victory by Journalism, who went on to win the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness and Haskell.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s way too early to think Potente will turn out like that, but he did earn 50 Kentucky Derby points, all but guaranteeing himself a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs. Baffert said Potente would start once more before the Derby; one possibility is the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, a race in which another Baffert colt, Cherokee Nation, is expected to run.<\/p>\n

\"Co-owner <\/p>\n

Co-owner David Michael Talla, right, and trainer Bob Baffert savor Splendora\u2019s victory in the Grade I $300,000 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile.<\/p>\n

(Benoit Photo via Asociated Press)<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill said Robusta also would start next in the Santa Anita Derby.<\/p>\n

The San Felipe Stakes was not the only Derby prep race Saturday, nor the only one with a surprising result. At Tampa Bay Downs, The Puma, winless in his only two prior previous starts, edged top choices Further Ado (2-1) and Canaletto (3-2) to win the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby at odds of 7-1.<\/p>\n

A son of Essential Quality, The Puma ($16.80) raced wide around both turns in the 1 1\/16-mile race but was able to outlast his rivals in 1:43.23. Javier Castellano rode the winner for trainer Gustavo Delgado.<\/p>\n

\u2018British\u2019 Big \u2018Cap<\/p>\n

British Isles, who had never won a stakes race in 23 lifetime starts, picked a good time to win his first, rallying to capture the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap by 4 1\/2 lengths over California-bred Vodka Vodka.<\/p>\n

Baffert\u2019s Getaway Car was third, with 3-5 favorite Just a Touch fourth and Midnight Mammoth last in a field of five that was watered down by the scratches of Pegasus World Cup winner Skippylongstocking and Grade 2 winner Westwood. None of the starters had won a Grade 1 or Grade 2 race.<\/p>\n

\"Trainer <\/p>\n

British Isles trainer Richard Baltas, left, celebrates with jockey Diego Herrera after winning the Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Benoit Photo via Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Jockey Diego Herrera picked up his first Grade 1 win in North America, guiding the 5-year-old son of Justify through 1 1\/4 miles in 2:05.17 \u2014 the slowest Big \u2019Cap time since 1975 and third slowest ever \u2014 while returning $16.40.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis race kind of fell apart a little bit with a couple scratches,\u201d British Isles trainer Richard Baltas said, \u201cbut there were still some nice horses in there and he did it with authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the second Big \u2019Cap victory for Baltas, who also won with Idol in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Saturday\u2019s] should mean more, because I own a piece of this one,\u201d said Baltas, who grew up in Huntington Beach, \u201cbut you know, Idol was my first Grade 1 win, in the Santa Anita Handicap. \u2026 I mean, I used to come here when I was a kid and watch the Big \u2019Cap. I never thought I would be training a Big \u2019Cap winner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, Baffert and Hernandez teamed to win the first of four stakes races at Santa Anita when Splendora ($2.20) romped to a 5 3\/4-length win in the Grade 1 B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile. It was the fifth straight victory for the Breeders\u2019 Cup Filly & Mare Sprint champion, who ran the mile in 1:35.16. \u201cBob just told me, \u2018Don\u2019t look back and just have fun.\u2019 That is what we did,\u201d said Hernandez.<\/p>\n

Hernandez earned his third straight victory and fourth of the day in the race after the San Felipe, the Grade 2 Frank E. Kilroe Mile. Final Boss, by far the longest shot in the field at 31-1, defeated favored El Potente by a half-length to post a $65.40 victory for trainer John Sadler.<\/p>\n

One highlight on the undercard came in the third race when Surfin\u2019 U.S.A., a 3-year-old filly owned by Times sportswriter Eric Sondheimer and Barry Siegel, brother of the late handicapper Jeff Siegel, cruised to victory in an $80,000 optional claiming race. Ridden by Armando Ayuso for trainer Leonard Powell, Surfin\u2019 U.S.A. returned $14.60 for her second straight victory.<\/p>\n

Attendance was announced at 19,122, the largest on Big \u2019Cap day since 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just two days before Saturday\u2019s San Felipe Stakes, trainer Bob Baffert said he entered Potente in the Grade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[60085,58473,96660,51354,96657,48,52,51,96659,96658,47,50,49,2663,96656,2211,96102,8507,25300,315,1543],"class_list":{"0":"post-209977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-baffert","9":"tag-bob-baffert","10":"tag-fifth-straight-victory","11":"tag-grade","12":"tag-juan-hernandez","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-headlines","15":"tag-la-news","16":"tag-length","17":"tag-longshot-robusta","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-mile","22":"tag-potente","23":"tag-race","24":"tag-san-felipe-stakes","25":"tag-santa-anita","26":"tag-stake","27":"tag-time","28":"tag-win"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}