Game On Dude hasn’t disappointed Bob Baffert often since he took over
as trainer of
the 5-year-old gelding two years ago. Sure, Game On Dude has lost a few
races in that span, but overall, he’s been a consistent money winner
against world-class competition, winning eight of 19 career starts, six
of them stakes.
Baffert hopes Game On Dude maintains his perfect record at Santa
Anita on Saturday when he heads the inaugural running of the Awesome
Again Stakes, formerly the Goodwood Stakes, at 1 1/8 miles on the main
track.
Game On Dude, winner of the 2011 Goodwood, the 2011 Santa Anita
Handicap and the Grade II San Antonio Stakes earlier this year, in
addition to an allowance win at The Great Race Place on Jan. 27 of last
year, worked six furlongs on Santa Anita’s main track Sunday in 1:13.20
under new rider Rafael Bejarano. He takes over for Chantal Sutherland,
who had ridden Game On Dude in his last 10 starts and 11 times overall.
Bejarano won the allowance race on the son of Awesome Again at Santa
Anita nearly two years ago.
“He went nice,” Baffert said of Sunday’s workout on a
refreshingly cooler morning Tuesday than Southern California has
experienced in the past six weeks. “He worked really well.”
Owned by Bernie Schiappa, Joe Torre’s Diamond Pride LLC and the
Lanni Family Trust, Game On Dude has earned more than $2.8 million in
his career.
“We gave a lot of money for a gelding, and I think we bought him
a week before the Florida Derby,” Baffert said. “This year, he’s really
filled out. He’s a stronger horse.”
Joe Ferrer, agent for Bejarano, understandably is happy to be
back on Game On Dude, and looking forward to even greater business with
the move of main rival Joel Rosario to the East Coast, but not without a
caveat.
“The more business you have, the more work there is,” Ferrer
said. “Rosario leaving helps guys more down the line. It helps
everybody, but more so guys like (Joe) Talamo and (Garrett) Gomez. We’ve
got some decent horses to ride in stakes, and Baffert’s got 160 head of
runners, so that helps a lot.”
The Awesome Again is one of five Grade I, “Win and You’re In”
Breeders’ Cup Challenge Races to be decided on Saturday, second day of
Santa Anita’s 24-day Breeders’ Cup World Championship meet that ends
Nov. 4.
Nominated winners of said races will be entitled to have
pre-entry fees and entry fees waived for their respective Breeders’ Cup
races, provided they are Breeders’ Cup-nominated by the pre-entry
deadline on Oct. 22.