ARCADIA — In a rarity, Bob Baffert was not in the spotlight before a Grade I stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. His horses went off at 8-1 and 14-1, and the trainer scratched another who was 6-1 on the morning line. His No. 1 jockey, Juan Hernandez, chose someone else’s horse in the Goodwood Stakes.
“It’s nice to go under the radar,” Baffert said.
He was speaking in, wouldn’t you know it, the winner’s circle.
The combination of the emerging talent of 3-year-old Nevada Beach and a heady ride by 59-year-old Mike Smith gave Baffert his ninth victory in the $300,000 Goodwood, and maybe his least likely.
The win in the 1⅛-mile race, by 1½ lengths over heavy favorite Full Serrano and 4¾ over Baffert-trained Privman, gave Nevada Beach backers a $19 payoff.
And it gave Baffert new hope for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the $7 million climactic event of the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
“(You) really appreciate a win that you’re not expecting to (get),” Baffert said.
The Goodwood, back to its original name after being the Awesome Again for 10 years and the California Crown in 2024, is the West Coast’s final prep for the 1¼-mile Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Baffert had planned to use the Goodwood to get Nysos ready for the Classic. But then Nysos took longer than expected to resume training after a foot bruise, and Baffert changed his target for the 4-year-old to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
With that, the favorite for the Goodwood became Full Serrano, the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner trained by John Sadler. Six-year-old Full Serrano, with Hernandez aboard, was bet down to 1-2 for his second start of 2025.
The focus remained on Full Serrano as he led to the backstretch, pressed first by 3-year-old Privman and jockey Antonio Fresu. Then it switched to Nevada Beach as Smith sensed a slow pace and advanced Nevada Beach from fourth to second in the field of six.
“I went to Plan B, and I moved,” said Smith, who was riding Nevada Beach for the first time after Hernandez had the son of Omaha Beach for a Los Alamitos Derby victory in June. “I was brave enough to do it because Bob said he’d get every bit of the mile and an eighth and he’s training good.”
Nevada Beach outfinished Full Serrano from the outside in the stretch. After the slow early pace, the final time of 1:48.43 made this one of the fastest Goodwoods in recent years.
“He’s got a lot of upside,” Smith said of Nevada Beach, thinking of Breeders’ Cup potential. “(In) another month or two, he’s going to be even better.”
On the biggest afternoon of the Santa Anita fall meet, other horses winning Breeders’ Cup preps were Johannes in the City of Hope Mile (a set-up for the Breeders’ Cup Mile), Gold Phoenix in the John Henry Turf Championship (Breeders’ Cup Turf) and Reef Runner in the Eddie D Stakes (Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint).
Full Serrano’s defeat should persuade Sadler to aim for a repeat win in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile instead of trying the Classic.
Baffert will not be the center of attention if he takes Nevada Beach to the Classic, a race the Hall of Fame trainer has won four times.
But sometimes, like Saturday, that works out for him.