Santa Anita: Gaming wins vs. 3 rivals Sunday in Affirmed Stakes

Gaming went straight to the front and was never headed on his way to a 1 3/4-length victory over stablemate Nevada Beach in Sunday’s listed, $100,000 Affirmed Stakes for four 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on the main track at Santa Anita.

Both Gaming and Nevada Beach are trained by Bob Baffert and owned by partners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.

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With jockey Juan Hernández opting to stick with Nevada Beach, who exited a debut win going a mile April 19, Gaming was ridden for the first time by Héctor Berrios. It was Gaming’s first victory since September in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity. It was Berrios’s first time riding a winner for Baffert.

Gaming broke best of all in the compact field and proceeded to set fractions of 23.45, 47.10 and 1:10.35 for six furlongs while being tracked by both 13-1 outsider Rank and Nevada Beach. On the second turn Nevada Beach started to come under a ride, and Gaming increased his lead slightly, looking poised to put the field away. But that would not be the case. Rank made a run at Gaming on his outside while to the inside Nevada Beach had re-engaged and was back in the mix.

Gaming led the trio at the sixteenth pole reached in 1:35.72 and then edged away again late to earn the victory with a time of 1:41.92. Nevada Beach finished three-quarters of a length in front of Rank for second. 

In the wagering, bettors made Nevada Beach the 3-5 favorite with Gaming the 3-2 second choice. The morning line had Gaming favored at 4-5 and Nevada Beach the second choice at 8-5.

According to Berrios the race went just as planned in his maiden voyage aboard Gaming.

“I wanted to go to the lead,” Berrios said. “I got a good position, and he went very comfortably. Then I just wait and waited. When I moved on him, he responded.”

Gaming had lost five consecutive starts, all stakes, which included four at the graded level. Following his win in last year’s Del Mar Futurity, Gaming finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, third in Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), eighth in the Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn, second in the Hot Springs at Oaklawn and most recently third in the Pat Day Mile (G2) on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

“It’s about what I thought might happen,” Paul Weitman said of the 1-2 finish for the ownership group dubbed the Three Amigos. “It was what I was hoping, but I wasn’t sure how the end would come out. I didn’t know if he would or if Nevada (Beach) would run on by him in the end. He wasn’t able to today. The rail might’ve been a little bit of a factor, but they both ran good and we are happy.”

By Game Winner, Gaming improved to 8: 3-2-1 with $771,000 in earnings.

With no show wagering, Gaming paid $5.00 and $2.40, and Nevada Beach returned $2.10.