Mirahmadi works at Santa Anita (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Stable Notes By Victor Ryan
ARCADIA, Calif.— Despite having never raced, seven-figure auction purchase Mirahmadi is tabbed as the 4-5 favorite for his debut in Saturday’s Fasig-Tipton Futurity going five furlongs.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Mirahmadi is a 2-year-old Into Mischief colt named in honor of Santa Anita Track Announcer Frank Mirahmadi. He is out of the Malibu Moon mare More Chocolate, who was a graded-stakes winner for trainer John Sadler.
Mirahmadi—the horse—was bought for $1.05 million at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale by SF Bloodstock, Starlight Racing and Madaket. Those principals also campaign the colt as part of an extensive ownership group.
Baffert on Thursday said he considered entering Mirahmadi in a maiden race on Sunday, but ultimately opted for the more ambitious stakes spot.
“He’s been training nice. He could probably use another work, but I thought let’s go ahead and run here and that should have him ready for Del Mar,” he added.
Mirahmadi has worked eight times since April 19 including two gate drills. On June 5, he worked a bullet from the gate when going five furlongs in 58.80 seconds. Baffert noted the colt was still “a little soft” for his debut.
“He’s a strong, powerful horse that’s come around quickly for us,” Baffert said. “We’ve always been high on him. He’s fast. But we’ve never really turned him loose in the morning. It’s going to be a tough task Saturday. I feel like the horses that have already had an out have a big advantage, but we’ll see if he’s up for it.”
Mirahmadi will break from the far outside in a field of six set to go postward. Santa Anita leading rider Juan Hernandez will be in the irons.
Mirahmadi’s main rivals in the Futurity appears to be Refocus (8-5) for trainer Doug O’Neill and Going Mobile (5-1) for trainer Steve Knapp. Refocus clocked the fastest 4 ½ furlongs of the season at Santa Anita when debuting against statebreds on May 21. By freshman stallion Pavel, Refocus won his debut by 4 ½ lengths in a final time of 52.08 seconds. Mario Gutierrez, who was aboard for the maiden win, will again be aboard Saturday.
Going Mobile also won by 4 ½ lengths in his debut going at 4 ½ furlongs here on April 30. The Stay Thirsty colt won in a time of 52.57 seconds. He’ll be ridden for the second time by Tiago Pereira.
First-time starter Harry Houdini, who drew the rail for trainer Dan Blacker, is expected to be scratched. The Good Magic colt was also entered in a maiden race on Sunday, which Blacker said is the preferred spot. Also entered in the Sunday maiden race for Baffert is Muth, also a son of Good Magic, who fetched $2 million at this year’s OBS March Sale of 2-year-olds in Training.
He is owned by Zedan Racing.
Rounding out the field for the Futurity are Tranche for trainer Luis Mendez and first-time starter Next Level for trainer Keith Desormeaux. Tranche is making his California bow after two starts in Kentucky without a win. Most recently, the Collected colt was third in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes on May 4 at Churchill Downs.
Next Level hails from the first crop of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso. He was a mere $20,000 buy at last year’s Keeneland September yearling sale.
