AWESOME AGAIN STAKES

(GRADE 1)

ARROGATE, move over…West Coast, you’ve got company.

Well, perhaps, that’s overdoing it but Bob Baffert bolstered his arsenal for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar when Mubtaahij annexed the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita last Saturday.

The well-travelled son of Dubawi snapped a 10-race losing streak by winning the $300,000 stakes, a logical prep for the big one next month.

Owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa at Maktoum and ridden for the first time by Drayden van Dyke, Mubtaahij rallied from sixth in the field of seven to score by one and a half lengths over Midnight Storm and Win The Space.

The favourite, Cupid, also trained by Baffert, ran evenly to finish fourth.

“I think the blinkers kept him more focused today. I didn’t want to change too much though. He’s a classy horse. His last two works really impressed us,” Baffert said.

Baffert took over the controls of Mubtaahij from Mike de Kock, who campaigned him through some big efforts, including a win in the 2015 UAE Derby, a fourth in the Belmont Stakes behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and a second behind California Chrome in the Dubai World Cup last spring.

After joining Baffert’s high-octane string, the Irish-bred finished third in the Suburban, second in the Woodward and fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup before returning to Dubai this spring for a second in the Curlin and a fourth in the Dubai World Cup.

“Well it looks like he’ll be in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. They’re all in,” Baffert continued.

As for using Van Dyke, Baffert had been planning on that for a while.

“He came up through Tom Proctor and he taught him well, how to be patient, how to be a horseman.

“I like students of the game and Mike Smith has taught him a lot. He’s a good kid and he’s been working a lot of my horses. If you work them, we’ll throw you a bone. That’s the way it works here, just have to wait on the bone. He got one with a little fillet on it today.”