Bast edges out Comical to win Santa Anita's Chandelier Stakes
Bast left the Santa Anita Park starting gate Friday at 1-5 for the Grade 1, $300,000 Chandelier Stakes, then battled a game Comical to the wire with the type of performance that may also send her favored in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Under jockey John Velazquez — who notched his 661st graded stakes win to break a tie with fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey for most all-time — Bast completed 1 1/16 miles in a final time of 1:46.10.
The Bob Baffert-trained daughter of Uncle Mo pressed the pace throughout, with opening fractions in 24.92 and 49.54 seconds, then edged past Comical in deep stretch.
The Baoma Corporation runner made this her second straight stakes win after breaking her maiden in the Del Mar Debutante (G1) at the beginning of the month. Bast’s close win Friday presented a different challenge compared to her 8 ¾-length rout of the Debutante.
“Sometimes the easiest ones are the hardest to win,” said Baffert, who claimed his 11th Chandelier crown. …
“This track, it’s a different track (than Del Mar). It’s very demanding. She handled it. She had every reason to quit running at the end. It was a nice little field here. She didn’t run like a 1-9 shot, but she got the W and that’s what counts right now.”
Stewards declared no changes after looking at the start, which saw Leucothea throw jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. and leave a field of five to battle it out.
Velazquez got the mount Friday on Bast in place of Drayden Van Dyke, who was injured Sept. 2 when riding another Baffert juvenile, Eight Rings, in the Del Mar Futurity (G1).
The East Coast legend Velazquez flew west to pilot both Bast and Eight Rings on Friday at Santa Anita. He’ll return to his Belmont Park base Saturday for Code of Honor’s start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).
“I’m never into the stats and numbers,” Velazquez said when asked about his new status as racing’s all-time leading graded stakes winner. “I concentrate to win races. That’s my job.
“One day when I retire and look back, I can see that I had a great career.”
Baffert said he was glad to be part of Velazquez’s record-setting victory, “even though Todd Pletcher had everything to do with his record,” he laughed. “I feel fortunate he was able to come in here at the last moment and ride these horses.”
Bast is the second runner to earn a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies berth, joining Pocahontas (G2) winner Lazy Daisy.
Two more “Win and You’re In” races remain in the division: the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) on Oct. 4 at Keeneland and The Frizette (G1) on Oct. 6 at Belmont Park.
Bast also joined Lazy Daisy as the first two 2-year-old fillies to win points-paying races on the 2020 Road to the Kentucky Oaks.
2020 Road to the Kentucky Oaks points standings
t-1. Bast, 10
t-1. Lazy Daisy, 10
t-3. Comical, 4
t-3. His Glory, 4
t-5. K P Dreamin, 2
t-5. Portrait, 2
t-7. Been Studying Her, 1
t-7. Blood Curdling, 1