Mor Spirit cruises late in the Robert B. Lewis
Never in doubt. At the eighth pole, he may still have been back in third, but under the confident handling of the Hall of Fame rider, Gary Stevens, it was only a matter of time before the heavy favorite would kick it into full gear. With his full cue finally given by Stevens, Mor Spirit flashed the kind of push-button acceleration that only good horses have, on his way to a measured 1 ½-length victory in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis this afternoon at Santa Anita.
The Lewis is not the end goal for this Bob Baffert-trained son of Eskendereya. Rather, it is just another brick in the wall towards building something special for the 2016 Kentucky Derby. But before dreams of running for roses can be realized, Mor Spirit had some work to do in the form of a six-horse field in his three-year-old debut.
As expected, the speedy I Will Score went right to the lead in the 1 1/16-mile affair, but he would not be left alone to his own devices. From the outside post position, Uncle Lino made it clear immediately that he would not let the second choice have things easy on the front end. Meanwhile, Mor Spirit was more than happy to relax back in third on the outside. As I Will Score carved out early fractions of :23.49 and :47.78, with Uncle Lino keeping close contact, Stevens remained a quiet passenger on the 7-10 favorite.
Heading into the stretch, the top two remained the same, while Stevens and Mor Spirit left the other chasers behind and began to bear down on the leaders. Still, Stevens did not look to be in a hurry as the eighth pole came and went. Finally, the veteran rider asked for the move, and it came quick. In the final sixteenth, Mor Spirit inhaled the leaders, and cruised right on by to win going away. Uncle Lino was able to edge by I Will Score for second place, while Dressed in Hermes was the best of the rest, but nowhere near the top three.
Stevens explained his confidence in a colt he obviously likes a great deal. “No, I never had any concerns,” said Stevens. “I actually got there quicker than I wanted to. I was loaded going into the stretch. He’s pretty special and I’m looking forward to facing more competition. He wasn’t even blowing after the race. I haven’t been able to get him tired in the morning yet. Every time we step forward I hope I can find the bottom . . . but I don’t want to find the bottom of him until it’s time. I haven’t got close to that yet and that’s a good feeling. He seems to just do just enough for what’s in front of him; he likes a target. I think as he faces better horses, he’ll only get better.”
It was the second straight victory for Mor Spirit (Eskendereya—Im A Dixie Girl, by Dixie Union). The Michael Lund Peterson colt had scored in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity in his final start as a two-year-old. With the win, Mor Spirit, who stands at #2 on my Kentucky Derby Big Ten, raised his career mark to a solid 5-3-2-0. As for now, Baffert would not give any hints as to what, or where, his next start will be.
While neither the final time for the 8 ½ furlongs of 1:43.21, nor the final margin of 1 ½-lengths was overly impressive, this race was all about the further education of a very talented horse who returned $3.40 for the win ticket. Mission accomplished. When leveled off, Mor Spirit reached for the wire very much like a horse who can make some noise when the biggest races of the spring roll around. All boxes checked, it looks like it is full speed ahead for Mor Spirit as one of the top contenders for this year’s Kentucky Derby, of which he now stands in second on the point leaderboard with 24 points.
His Triple Crown winning trainer talked about the meaning of today’s win “Today was the same thing: get the win and educate him at the same time,” remarked Baffert. “You can do that when you have this kind of horse, with his style. You know he’s a really good horse.”