Adare Manor resurfaces for Baffert in Santa Anita allowance race

Adare Manor, sidelined since a disappointing sixth in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 24, returns to action Saturday at Santa Anita in a second-level allowance going seven furlongs.

Winner of last year’s Las Virgenes (G3) for Bob Baffert, Adare Manor was sent to the farm to regroup following the Cotillion and returned to training in December. She has worked six times for her 4-year-old bow, which includes a bullet five-furlong drill in 59.0 seconds on Feb. 3 at Los Alamitos.

While Baffert is happy with how she’s trained, he indicated the allowance race is meant as simply a starting point for bigger things ahead.

“I just got her over here and she could probably use another work or two. But I saw that race come up and those can be hard to fill, so I figured I’d rather give her a race. She’s doing well and has worked well. This will set her up for a stakes.”

Last year, Adare Manor was second by a neck in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) and again was runner-up in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico. In the Cotillion, Adare Manor briefly pressed the pace before dropping anchor and finishing 19 1/4 lengths adrift. The decision was then made to turn her out.

“She came back (from Parx) and was just tired,” Baffert said. “These horses sometimes they go through a phase where they just lose interest. So I freshened her up, turned her out and gave her some time.”

By Uncle Mo, Adare Manor will be ridden by Santa Anita’s leading rider Juan Hernandez for the first time. She’ll also race without blinkers for the first time.

“The plan is to have her ready for all the big races in the summer,” Baffert noted.

Adare Manor will have to deal with some accomplished rivals in her comeback, which goes as the eighth race on Saturday with an approximate post time of 7:06 p.m. EST.

Ain’t Easy, a Grade 2 winner, drops into the allowance ranks for trainer Phil D’Amato following a sixth in the La Brea (G1) going seven furlongs on Dec. 26. Trainer Mark Glatt also sends out a pair of comebackers in Ironic Twist, who last year won her only two career starts at Santa Anita; and Teddy’s Barino, who had won four straight before finishing third in the Chillingworth (G3) going 6 ½ furlongs on Oct. 12. Teddy’s Barino is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind Adare Manor.

The field in post-position order: Classical Romance, Ryan Curatalo, 30-1; Ain’t Easy, Ramon Vazquez, 4-1; Ironic Twist, Kazushi Kimura, 6-1; Shared Future, Tiago Pereira, 8-1; Adare Manor, Juan Hernandez, 8-5; Malibu Marie, Jose Valdivia Jr., 30-1; Teddy’s Barino, Frankie Dettori, 5-2; Una Chiquita, Hector Berrios, 8-1.