Baeza has Grade 1 breakthrough with Pennsylvania Derby win

Bensalem, Pa.

Baeza made a bold move in the final turn to win the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Saturday. In doing so he got a Grade 1 victory that had eluded him in three previous tries.

Sent off as the 7-5 favorite in the field of 3-year-olds, Baeza swept past the other nine horses to win by 2 1/4 lengths with a final time of 1:48.03 for the 1 1/8 miles on the fast main track.

Click here for Parx entries and results.

Baeza moved from a February maiden victory at Santa Anita into Grade 1 competition, where he was second in the Santa Anita Derby, third in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Belmont Stakes. Each time he came up short behind Sovereignty and-or Journalism.

He and trainer John Shirreffs did not have to share the warm and sunny autumn day with the 3-year-old division leaders, because they were preparing for their next start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1. Baeza’s convincing victory Saturday secured his position as the third-best 3-year-old in the country.

“We were close in some of the big races,” Shirreffs said. “Today he put it all together. He was tactical. He had a kick. He did everything today.”

At the start of the race, the field formed two flights of horses. A pace-setting group of three included So Sandy, David of Athens and Goal Oriented. Then Magnitude, Baeza and Gosger were right behind. Those positions held up the backstretch and into the final turn as the fractions went in 23.01, 46.63 and 1:10.51.

Baeza began to pass horses easily as he moved on the outside around the turn and straightened for the run down the stretch. The son of McKinzie had gotten to a lead of a 1 1/2-lengths at the stretch call.

“He broke OK,” Shirreffs said. “He looked like he might want to drop back a little bit, but (jockey) Héctor (Berrios) made sure that he stayed connected with the field. He willingly started to move up and get better position. The horse ran beautifully. Héctor rode him perfectly. Great afternoon.”

As Baeza took control of the race, Magnitude also moved up from that second flight of horses and got to second. Goal Oriented and So Sandy dropped back coming out of the turn but were able to get the best of most of the others as they finished third and fourth.

As the winning favorite, Baeza got his second career victory and upped his career earnings to $1,503,500. Baeza paid $4.80, 3.20 and 2.40 across the board. Magnitude was 10-1 and completed a $2 exacta that paid $53.40. Goal Oriented was third for Bob Baffert and Irad Ortiz Jr. at 4-1 and rounded out at trifecta which returned $228.60. So Sandy was 33-1 to finish fourth.

“Today was a big day. It was a big day for Baeza,” Shirreffs said. “Today we had to do things differently, but he handled everything so well. He really showed great signs of maturity.”

Right after the race Shirreffs was unwilling to make a commitment about whether Baeza would run in the Breeders’ Cup.

“I always look forward to another shot at Sovereignty,” he said. “We were just one length (behind in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy in July). Maybe we can make that up. We’ll see.”