Du Jour worked out a perfect trip under Flavien Prat to provide Bob Baffert with a rare graded stakes winner on the turf. A debut second on the Del Mar lawn last November behind next-out stakes winner Cathkin Peak (Ire) (Alhebayeb {Ire}), the bay was third when switched to the Santa Anita main track Jan. 3 behind subsequent GIII Robert B. Lewis S. runner-up Roman Centurian (Empire Maker). He broke through back on the lawn in Arcadia Feb. 19, and doubled up after setting pace in a Mar. 28 optional claimer.
Guided to the hedge to sit fifth as Excellent Timing (Not This Time) sped clear, Du Jour advanced along the inside after six furlongs in 1:12.60. He briefly had to wait for a seam behind Winfromwithin, but the seas parted in midstretch and Du Jour lengthened his stride from there to kick home a decisive winner.
“The key was getting him to relax down inside,” said Prat, who also piloted Blowout (GB) (Dansili {GB}) to a win in the GII Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile earlier in the card. “I actually sent him quite a bit out of the gate and then it's always a question of if they can come back to you after that. It felt like they were going a good clip up front and that helped him to relax too. He traveled well and when I asked him to split horses, he did it nicely.”
Du Jour is co-owned by Baffert's wife Jill and Debbie Lanni, whose family's Lanni Family Trust has raced the likes of $6.5-million MGISW Game On Dude (Awesome Again) and MGSW/MGISP Reneesgotzip (City Zip).
“These turf horses are easier to train. You don't have to train them very hard,” said Baffert, whose last graded winner on the grass came with Kingly (Tapit) in the 2019 GIII La Jolla H. “We tried to make a dirt horse out of him and he wasn't that good. Mike Smith rode him and said I think he likes the turf. I'm really excited about it. And I'm just so happy for Jill. She has to deal with me as a trainer, and all the ups and downs. For that horse to win today, and to listen to her excitement, now she has something that's hers.”
Saturday, Churchill Downs
AMERICAN TURF S. PRESENTED BY DERBY CITY GAMING-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-1, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.49, fm.
1–DU JOUR, 118, c, 3, by Temple City
1st Dam: Guiltless, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Getaway Girl, by Silver Deputy
3rd Dam: Baby Zip, by Relaunch
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($19,000 Ylg
'19 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Natalie J. Baffert &
Debbie Lanni; B-Woods Edge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert;
J-Flavien Prat. $282,100. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-1, $375,220.
Werk Nick Rating: C+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Lucky Law (Ire), 118, c, 3, No Nay Never–Musically (GB), by
Singspiel (Ire). (110,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA; £110,000 2yo '20
GOFARQ). O-Sanford Bacon, Mrs. Paul Shanahan, Horse France
America, Patrick L. Biancone Racing LLC & DP Racing; B-The
Musically Syndicate (IRE); T-Patrick L. Biancone. $91,000.
3–Winfromwithin, 118, c, 3, Into Mischief–Rau Breck, by Mr.
Greeley. ($100,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Jim Bakke; B-Mulholland
Springs LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $45,500.
Margins: 1HF, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 5.60, 15.90, 5.00.
Also Ran: Hidden Enemy (Ire), Palazzi, Royal Prince, Chess's Dream, Annex, Scarlett Sky, Holy Vow, Next, Dyn O Mite, Barrister Tom, Excellent Timing. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
Du Jour becomes the 19th stakes winner (ninth graded) for sire Temple City. He is the 29th graded winner out of a Bernardini mare. The red-hot broodmare sire has been represented just this year by the likes of graded winners Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), Maxfield (Street Sense), Paris Lights (Curlin), Clairiere (Curlin), Cezanne (Curlin), Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) and Twenty Carat (Into Mischief).
Just a $19,000 KEESEP yearling, Du Jour breezed in :10 1/5 at the pushed-back OBS Spring sale last year as a member of the Off the Hook LLC consignment before bringing $280,000. Off the Hook sold a :9 4/5 co-bullet breezer by Temple City for $110,000 at this year's recent OBSAPR renewal.
Du Jour is the second foal out of unplaced Guiltless, who is a half to GSW Northern Causeway (Giant's Causeway). His third dam produced Ghostzapper and City Zip. Guiltless's 2-year-old filly Royal County (Klimt) was fifth and fourth in her first two tries at Keeneland for juvenile specialist John Ennis. She has a yearling filly by Twirling Candy and was bred back to Not This Time.
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