Newgrange and Velazquez take them all the way in the Sham
Newgrange and Hall of Famer John Velazquez shot to the front and were never headed to earn a gate-to-wire victory by 2 3/4 lengths in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Newgrange, the lesser fancied of two Bob Baffert runners, paid $7.40 as the 5-2 third choice in a five-horse field. Stablemate Rockefeller, the 3-2 favorite, was second followed by Oviatt Class and Mackinnon. While the Sham is an official stop on the road to the Kentucky Derby, Newgrange and Rockefeller will not earn qualifying points because of Baffert's two-year ban from the Kentucky Derby enacted by Churchill Downs after 2021 winner Medina Spirit's failed drug test.
“There was one speed, the other Bob Baffert horse (Rockefeller) and I’m pretty sure he didn’t want them in a head and head," Velazquez explained of his trip. "He told me to put my horse on the lead. Once my horse got to the lead he waited.
"I took a little hold of him and he kind of started waiting for the horses, so I started waiting for the horses to come to him, by the time we got to the backside I kind of let him do his own thing. I let him get in a comfortable rhythm, after that it was pretty easy though."
Newgrange, who entered off a debut win going six furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 28, broke on top and proceeded to set a moderate pace of 24.46, 48.94 and 1:12.84 for six furlongs on a fast track. With Rockefeller pressing on the outside, and Mackinnon starting to make his bid on the second turn, Newgrange extended his lead at the top of the stretch and motored to the wire to win in a final time of 1:38.82.
“He looked good," Baffert said of the winner. "He had been training really well and working together with Rockefeller. The quality is there. I’m happy we have a great team and we are moving forward with him. I thought Rockefeller would be a little closer. We’ll have to figure things out on where the two go from here.”
By Violence out of the unraced Empire Maker mare Bella Chianti, Newgrange was a $125,000 auction purchase as a yearling by SF Racing, Starlight Stables and Madaket Stables.
“He’s so green, he feels like he got on by himself," Velazquez said. "He was waiting for horses so, I had to give him a little reminder to keep his mind on running and his gallop out was pretty good so it still seems like he’s learning.”