MEETING IS EXCELLENT AT SANTA ANITA OAKS.Byline: Fred J. Robledo Trainer Bob Baffert's Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. picture is clouded by his own success. Excellent Meeting, his 3-year-old filly owned by John and Betty Mabee's Golden Eagle Farms, captured the $250,000 Grade I Santa Anita Oaks Santa Anita Oaks is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually in mid March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Open to three-year-old fillies willing to race 8.5 furlongs (1 1/16 miles) on the dirt, it currently offers a purse of $300,000. on Sunday, holding off a late rush from stablemate Noun 1. stablemate - a horse stabled with another or one of several horses owned by the same person stable companion Equus caballus, horse - solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times Tout Charmant to win the 1 1/16-mile race by a neck. Along with Exploit and Prime Timber, Excellent Meeting, who has six victories and three seconds in nine starts, could help provide Baffert with a good shot at winning a third consecutive Kentucky Derby. Baffert was in Louisiana on Sunday for the Louisiana Derby. Another of his hopefuls, General Challenge, finished fifth with jockey Gary Stevens aboard. Excellent Meeting was coming off a victory in the Grade I Las Virgenes. Sunday's race, with Kent Desormeaux aboard, likely sets her up for the April 3 Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. . If so, Desormeaux must decide whether to stay with Excellent Meeting or ride Real Quiet, who is scheduled to run the same day in the Oaklawn Handicap. Desormeaux wasn't overly concerned with the close outcome in the Oaks. ``I think, if you look at the race, in the last hundred yards, she (Excellent Meeting) was holding the other filly (Tout Charmant) at bay,'' he said. ``I hope nobody gets too concerned out there and that they don't lose any of their love for her.'' Baffert's assistant trainer, Eoin Harty, was a little critical of Desormeaux's ride. ``I think Kent rode this filly the way he rode Real Quiet last week (in the New Orleans Handicap The New Orleans Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Open to horses four years old and up, the race is run at a distance of one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. It currently offers a purse of $500,000. at the Fairgrounds n. pl. 1. same as fairground. ) - with a little too much confidence,'' Harty said. ``He didn't give any credit to Tout Charmant, and I knew Tout Charmant had improved a lot since her last race (second in the Las Virgenes).'' |
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