Baffert Pair Prepping for BC Dirt Mile

It sounded like Bob Baffert had mixed emotions about running Capital Account and Coil in Saturday’s Grade I, Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs.

“That’s going to be tough,” Baffert said. “To me, both those horses need seven-eighths but I want to get a prep. I want to run them in the (Breeders’ Cup Dirt) Mile.”

Martin Garcia, who has ridden Coil in half of his 10 career races, winning the Grade I Haskell Invitational at 1 1/8 miles, says that over time, the 4-year-old son of 2001 Horse of the Year Point Given has found his running niche.

“When he was a baby, he couldn’t decide how he wanted to run,” said Garcia of Coil, who adds blinkers on Saturday. “He hadn’t developed a style. But now, I think he can run any distance. He’s been working really well. I worked him his last work and he was just cruising.

“Coil always tries. In the Haskell, even though it was a mile and an eighth, he ran a big race. The way he came off the pace you might have thought it was six furlongs.”