By J.N. Campbell
Cicero Farms homebred Hope Road (Quality Road) rolled in the GIII Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday afternoon and proved her two prior five-length wins for trainer Bob Baffert were no fluke.
Beginning in the care of John Sadler, last summer at the seaside oval the then-juvenile was the runner-up twice against maiden special weights before being well-beaten in the GI Del Mar Derby. Making the barn switch in September, the filly broke through with a strong performance at Santa Anita in mid-June to start her 3-year-old season and then scampered up the class ladder against optional claimers going six furlongs on the main track at Del Mar.
Set to check two turns off her to-do list and at fifty cents on the dollar here, Hope Road was sent on her way, but before she reached the first turn, longshot Soho (City of Light) bullied her way from the inside to make the pace. The bay was content to use the speed horse as a target and when the leader began to fade before the far turn it was go time. The Baffert trainee kicked in the afterburner and sailed home a winner under a hand ride by Juan Hernandez. Nothing Like You (Malibu Moon) completed the other half of the stable's exacta.
“I knew there was a lot of speed in the race,” said Bob Baffert, who celebrated his eighth win in Torrey Pines. “You don't know until they do it but at the three-eighths pole I thought she'll get it. She settled very nice. Juan [Hernandez] rides these horses with so much confidence I don't say anything to him. So he's on his own.”
Pedigree Notes:
With over a 1,000 foals of racing age, the longstanding Quality Road (by Elusive Quality) now has 42 graded stakes winners to his credit. Her dam's first registered foal, the winner has an unraced 2-year-old half-sister in Freedom Song (Medaglia d'Oro) and a weanling half-brother (Uncle Mo). A half-sister herself to SW Noble Charlotte (Include), Marley's Freedom–who purchased by Cicero for $35,000 during the 2015 Keeneland September Sale and won the GI Ballerina Stakes–was bred to Violence for 2025.
Saturday, Del Mar
TORREY PINES S.-GIII, $150,500, Del Mar, 8-31, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:36.15, ft.
1–HOPE ROAD, 120, f, 3, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Marley's Freedom (GISW, $1,233,935), by Blame
2nd Dam: Relaxing Green, by Formal Gold
3rd Dam: Charlotte Augusta, by Chief's Crown
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($575,000 RNA Ylg '22 FTSAUG). O/B-Cicero Farms LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 6-3-2-0, $198,020. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Nothing Like You, 124, f, 3, Malibu Moon–Miss Derek, by Brother Derek. ($67,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $20,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $190,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-Georgia Antley Hunt, Jeff Giglio and John L. Rogitz; B-Notch Hill Farm, Wolverton Mountain Farm & Spendthrift Stallions, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $30,000.
3–Grand Slam Smile, 124, f, 3, Smiling Tiger–Royal Grand Slam, by Grand Slam. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Larry D. Williams and Marianne Williams; B-Larry D. Williams (CA); T-Steven Specht. $18,000.
Margins: 5, 6, 8. Odds: 0.50, 3.40, 7.50.
Also Ran: Desert Rhapsody, Back On Track, Soho. Scratched: Omaha Girl, Simply Enchanting.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
#3 HOPE ROAD ($3.00) absolutely crushes her competition in the $150,000 Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) at @DelMarRacing.
The three-year-old filly by @LanesEndFarms' Quality Road gets her first graded victory under @JJHernandezS19 for trainer @BobBaffert. pic.twitter.com/fOXhBUIGF8
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) August 31, 2024
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