By Jill Williams
With four of the six who went to post in the GII Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita Saturday, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert was guaranteed a placing or two in the 'Win and You're In' race for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 1. He did better than that, saddling the first three home. Even-money favorite and maiden winner Non Compliant (2, f, Tiz the Law–Sensitively, by Street Sense), the most modest auction purchase of the Baffert quartet, bested GIII Sorrento Stakes winner Nooni (Win Win Win) and GI Del Mar Debutante victress Tenma (Nyquist) to give Baffert his 13th win in the Oak Leaf, which was returning to its original name after previously labeled as the Chandelier Stakes for the last dozen years.
Floated wide into the first turn as the juvenile fillies jostled for position, Non Compliant settled into third behind Nooni and Tenma, who were both flashy OBS buys ($1.8-million for Nooni, $850,000 for Tenma). Non Compliant continued to track through fractions of :23.42 and :47.22 as Nooni showed the way. Ranging up on the turn, Non Compliant tackled Nooni and the two knocked heads for a few strides before Non Compliant pulled clear under Juan Hernandez in a decisive 2 1/4-length victory. Nooni was a clear second, 8 1/4 lengths over Tenma.
“She was really happy and a little aggressive, but this was her first time going the mile,” said Hernandez. “So, of course, she's going to break a little sharp, but I like that. She relaxed around the turn. I was always really comfortable. Around the [second] turn, I was trying to pick it up, and she did that very well. She didn't want to stop.”
Campaigned by Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff Giglio, and John Rogitz, Non Compliant was a $150,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old after working a furlong in :10 1/5. She previously sold as a $15,000 Keeneland November weanling and a $35,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling. The bay broke her maiden on debut at Del Mar Aug. 31 with her 82 Beyer Speed Figure that day tops among the Oak Leaf field.
Rogitz, one of the partners on the filly, signed the Fasig-Tipton sales ticket and was in attendance Saturday.
“My dad used to bring me to Santa Anita when I was a kid and I grew up in Temple City [just a few miles from the track],” said Rogitz. “Bob [Baffert] and his team, they have an amazing eye for horses. You never know until they try two turns if they are going to handle it, but I think we felt like she could.”
Pedigree Notes:
Non Compliant's Oak Leaf win marked the first graded victory for freshman sire Tiz the Law, who went into Saturday as the leading first-crop sire by earnings. In addition to Non Compliant, the Ashford Stud/Coolmore stallion has two additional stakes winners in Tiztastic and Out on Bail, who each won their black-type races on the lawn on the extremely competitive circuits of Kentucky Downs and Saratoga, respectively. A son of Constitution, Tiz the Law himself won four Grade Is, including the Champagne Stakes at two.
Bred in Kentucky by Ashview Farm and Old Oak Farm, Non Compliant is out of 2017 GIII Adoration Stakes runner-up Sensitively. The mare was sold for $13,000 to Virginia Moore at the 2022 Keeneland November sale, delivering a colt by Independence Hall the next spring. Barren in 2024, she was bred to Tiz the Law's fellow Ashford stallion Epicenter for next term. Tracing tail-female to the excellent and prolific broodmare Lea Lark, Sensitively is a daughter of Darley's Street Sense, whose grandsons and granddaughters had a stellar Saturday. In addition to Non Compliant becoming the 36th black-type winner out of one of his daughters, his young sire son, McKinzie, recorded two first-crop Grade I winners on the day.
#8 NON COMPLIANT ($4.00) wins herself a spot in the @BreedersCup Juvenile Fillies with a victory in the $200,000 Oak Leaf Stakes (G2) at @santaanitapark. @JJHernandezS19 piloted the Tiz The Law (@CoolmoreAmerica) filly for trainer @BobBaffert. pic.twitter.com/FRxjn5X8Dt
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) October 5, 2024
Saturday, Santa Anita
OAK LEAF S. PRESENTED BY OAK TREE-GII, $200,500, Santa Anita, 10-5, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:45.08, ft.
1–NON COMPLIANT, 122, f, 2, by Tiz the Law
1st Dam: Sensitively (GSP, $190,415),
by Street Sense
2nd Dam: Dressmaker, by Elusive Quality
3rd Dam: Scarlet Velvet, by Red Ransom
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($15,000
Wlg '22 KEENOV; $35,000 Ylg '23 FTKJUL; $150,000 2yo '24
EASMAY). O-Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff Giglio and John L.
Rogitz; B-Ashview Farm & Old Oak Farm (KY); T-Bob Baffert;
J-Juan J. Hernandez. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0,
$165,000. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nooni, 122, f, 2, Win Win Win–Unanimity, by Union Rags.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($1,800,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR). O-Zedan
Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Ocala Stud, Joseph M. O'Farrell III, David
O'Farrell, et al. (FL); T-Bob Baffert. $40,000.
3–Tenma, 122, f, 2, Nyquist–Amagansett, by Tapit. ($200,000
Ylg '23 KEESEP; $850,000 2yo '24 OBSAPR). O-Baoma Corp;
B-B Flay Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $24,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 8 1/4, 3/4. Odds: 1.00, 3.00, 2.40.
Also Ran: In the Air Tonight, Showers, Om N Joy. Scratched: Jack's Magic Girl, Rio Del Sol.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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