Favorite Scipio finds room in the stretch and bursts clear to bag first stakes win in $100,000 Stakes for 3-year-olds on Santa Anita’s Hillside Turf Course. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.—Cutting back in distance and with blinkers off, odds-on favorite Scipio earned his first stakes win with a 1 ½-length victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Baffle Stakes for 3-year-olds sprinting about 6 ½ furlongs on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course.
With Flavien Prat aboard, Scipio settled behind horses as the field descended the hill. He found himself behind a wall of horses when reaching the dirt crossing. At that point, Prat eased Scipio out for racing room and the favorite took it from there. Scipio spurted past the leaders and motored to the wire to win comfortably. Game Warrior, a 34-1 longshot with Antonio Fresu, finished second by a nose over Freedom’s Not Free (5-2).
“When we got to the dirt path, he jumped on the bridle, and I had myself in a bit of a bad spot,” Prat said. “But when we got past the dirt, he leveled off nicely and made a good run. He’s a good horse.”
Trained by Richard Baltas, Scipio won in a time of 1:12.52 following fractions of 21.91, 44.0 and 1:06.63.
“Coming down into the lane he was loaded,” Baltas said. “When you have a good rider like Flavien, he can get him out. We are just happy that he did what we thought he could do. It was a cutback in distance, but we are really proud of the horse.”
As a 2-year-old, Scipio hit the board in both the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf and GIII Cecil B. DeMille while still maiden. He also was fourth in last year’s Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. All were going a mile at Del Mar. Scipio was then dropped into one-mile maiden heat on turf Dec. 28 at Santa Anita and promptly graduated.
A 3-year-old ridgling by Caravaggio, Scipio improved to 6: 2-1-2 with $149,000 in earnings for owners Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran.
Scipio paid $3.80, $2.60 and $2.10. Game Warrior, trained by Ruben Alvarado, returned $19.80 and $6.80. Freedom’s Not Free, with Frankie Dettori up for trainer Mark Glatt, paid $2.60.
Live racing resumes Monday at Santa Anita with a special Presidents’ Day card. First post is 12:30 p.m. PT. Admission gates open at 10:30 a.m.
Jockey Quotes
Flavien Prat, Scipio, Winner: “When we got to the dirt path, he jumped on the bridle, and I had myself in a bit of a bad spot. But when we got past the dirt, he leveled off nicely and made a good run. He’s a good horse.”
Trainer Quotes
Richard Baltas, Scipio, Winner: “Coming down into the lane he was loaded. When you have a good rider like Flavien, he can get him out. We are just happy that he did what we thought he could do. It was a cutback in distance, but we are really proud of the horse. Any 3-year-old turf stakes will be next, the Pasadena, then maybe Del Mar down the road. There’s a lot of options for him. I think he wants to run farther. But he does pretty good when he goes short, it seems like he kicks. He is a nice horse.
“Carolyn Conley helped me pick this horse. Nobody wanted him because he worked 10 and two, I said he was a big good-looking horse, so we vetted him and got him for $60,000.”
Owner Quotes
Calvin Nguyen, Scipio, Winner: “He had some unfortunate trips in the past. I was a little nervous today, but we got it done. Richie said the horse matured and he probably didn’t need the blinkers. Less is always better. Ever since we got him, he has been a beast, he is a big horse.”
