1st-Santa Anita, $68,000, Msw, 1-15, 3yo, 6 1/2f, 1:14.58, gd,1 1/4 lengths.
HEJAZI (c, 3, Bernardini–G Note, by Medaglia d'Oro), the $3,550,000 EASMAY sale-topper, finally got the monkey off his back Sunday, winning a rescheduled maiden special weight contest at Santa Anita. Bested by SW Classical Cat (Mendelssohn) after a slow start when first seen at Del Mar Aug. 20, it took a track-record setting effort by stablemate and GSW Speed Boat Beach (Bayern) to best him again Sept. 10. Third in a Bob Baffert exacta topped by Cave Rock (Arrogate) in the GI American Pharoah S., Hejazi returned to the favorite's role in an overmatched field Sunday as the 1-2 favorite. Breaking just a half-step slow from the inside gate, Mike Smith allowed his mount to move up to set the tempo with Sully (Uncle Mo) pressuring to his outside. Still in command as he swung for home, Hejazi had enough of a gap built up through the final sixteenth to safely hold off a closing Worcester and win by 1 1/4 lengths.
“We gave him some time, gave him a chance to re-boot,” said winning trainer Bob Baffert. “We wanted to get some weight back on him. We put him through a pretty ambitious (three-race sequence). Mike got him to relax a little bit. Once I saw him out there cruising… We're gonna have fun with him.”
G Note, herself a half-sister to the dams of GSW Un Ojo (Laoban) and SW & GSP Fingal's Cave (Carpe Diem), traces back to MGISW Antespend (Spend a Buck) and GI Florida Derby winner Friends Lake (A.P. Indy). She produced a 2-year-old colt by Practical Joke, a yearling colt by Improbable, and was barren to Rock Your World for 2023. Sales History: $3,550,000 2yo '22 EASMAY. Lifetime Record: GISP, 4-1-2-1, $108,200. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Chester & Mary R. Broman (NY); T-Bob Baffert.
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