Game Winner adds blinkers in work, to get new jockey next race

For the first time since his championship 2-year-old season, Game Winner donned blinkers Friday in a workout at Santa Anita Park, where he clocked a half mile in 48.40 seconds under jockey Martin Garcia.

Fifth after a wide trip when promoted from sixth in the Kentucky Derby, Game Winner has the Aug. 24 Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga as his next major goal with a to-be-determined prep beforehand.

Trainer Bob Baffert told the Daily Racing Form's Brad Free that the son of Candy Ride will also have a jockey other than Joel Rosario, who has ridden dating back to last year, in his next race.

“He looked really good today,” Baffert told Free after the breeze. “He was moving really well, like it was nothing for him.”    Baffert initially considered the Belmont Stakes for a horse that wouldn't have minded the distance. But after the Derby, he also sent Game Winner to Lexington's Rood & Riddle for a checkup. It's understandable to wonder why he hasn't won a race at age 3, coming close in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and Santa Anita Derby (G1), after a 4-for-4 campaign last year that concluded with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. So perhaps blinkers will do the trip. Baffert had a second high-profile 3-year-old, Grade 1 winner Roadster, on the Santa Anita work tab as well. Fifteenth in the Derby, he has now breezed three times since the first Saturday in May, with two works at Churchill Downs before the Quality Road colt registered five furlongs Friday in 1:00.40.  Options for 3-year-olds moving forward on the West Coast include Santa Anita's June 16 Affirmed (G3) at 1 1/16 miles and the July 13 Los Alamitos Derby (G3).