Vital Piece of SoCal Racing Program Now a One-Note Tune

"I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly."—Steven Wright The two Del Mar meets have just ended, both successful by conventional measures. The customary season was highlighted by the whopping victory of Fierceness in the Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) and the four-peat of Gold Phoenix (IRE) in the Del Mar Handicap (G2T). Lovesick Blues sang a Cinderella song in the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1), Formidable Man remained seaside perfect by winning the Eddie Read Stakes (G2T) and the Del Mar Mile Stakes (G2T), and Graham Motion lobbed a couple of cross-country bombs with Heredia (GB) in the Yellow Ribbon Handicap (G2T) and Gimme a Nother (SAF) in the John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T). Then there was the other meet, best described as Bob's Bottomless Treasure Chest. A cavalry of 2-year-olds trained by Bob Baffert ran wild this summer, reducing a once-competitive program to a frustrating scramble for minor awards by opposing owners and trainers. And while the perception of Baffert's dominance pervaded the season, the statistical reality is even more daunting. There were 13 maiden special weight races on the dirt for 2-year-olds, excluding restricted state-bred races, spread over the 31 days of the meet, along with four graded main track stakes. Baffert colts and fillies won eight of the maiden races and all four stakes. The purchase prices of Baffert's young ones are enough to make the eyes water. He won maiden races with Brant ($3 million 2-year-old), Boyd ($1.05 million 2-year-old), Kristofferson ($1.15 million yearling), Litmus Test and Balboa (both $875,000 yearlings), and Buetane ($1.15 million 2-year-old). Among the Baffert lads and lasses who tried and failed to win Del Mar maiden races were Cherokee Nation ($1.15 million yearling), Falcon Jet and Rio Grande ($750,000 yearlings), St Petersburg ($700,000 yearling), Huber ($700,000 2-year-old), and Sounds Lucky ($550,000 2-year-old). Fear not, though. Santa Anita Park and Del Mar autumn maiden races await. While Brant gets all the buzz, the most interesting Baffert 2-year-old of the summer was Plutarch, a son of Into Mischief bred and owned by the Coolmore group. His dam, champion Stellar Wind, was a $6 million Coolmore purchase at the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. After finishing second to Intrepido in the only one-mile maiden main track race of the meet, Plutarch came flying from last to finish an admirable second to heavily favored Hey Nay Nay (IRE) in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes (G3T) at a mile on closing day. (Not for nothing, it was the other Plutarch, a Greek philosopher, who wrote, "An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics." Cue the irony.) This summer, 66 trainers started at least 10 horses, but only five barns managed to penetrate Baffert's stranglehold on those main track maiden events, those of Mark Glatt, Richard Baltas, John Sadler, Jeff Mullins, and Richard Mandella. The most expensive of their winners was Intrepido, for Mullins, at $385,000, while Mandella's Bourbon and Ginger and Glatt's La Wally cost $325,000 and $300,000, respectively. The others went for $95,000 and $85,000. Outgunned? You bet. But that's the free market, and there is no market as free as the supply and demand of the Thoroughbred bloodstock bazaar, which has been on giddy display this week at Keeneland. Still, every economic system needs guide rails, and although cries of "monopoly!" fall on mostly deaf ears, what once was a vigorous environment of ownership and training opportunities at the top of the Southern California circuit has become a decidedly one-sided enterprise. Del Mar's four graded main track stakes for 2-year-olds this summer offered a total of $902,000 (I know, doesn't sound like much. Welcome to California). Baffert started 10 of the 24 runners and came away with $705,000 for a variety of owners that included not only the SF Racing, Starlight Racing, et al. consortium, but also Amr Zedan, Baoma Corp., Mike Pegram and partners, and someone named Natalie Baffert, more familiarly known as Jill. In fact, Jill Baffert is the only one of Baffert's clients who came away with a significant net gain in the 2-year-old division. Her Vino Rosso filly, Bottle of Rouge, cost just $100,000 as a yearling and upset stablemates Explora ($350,000 2-year-old) and Himika ($900,000 2-year-old) in the seven-furlong Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1). It's good to be the king, no question. But kings can be bad for business. Baffert-packed stakes have become unattractive betting propositions. All eight of his maiden winners were favored at $1.10 on the dollar or less. The Del Mar Futurity (G1), won by Brant at 1-10, offered win betting only in the win-place-show pools despite its field of six, four of them trained by Baffert. Of equal concern is the impact on investment by other owners. After considerable initial expenditures at sales and early training, winning that open maiden race clears a significant hurdle. A racing program so thoroughly dominated by a single operation discourages participation, especially when there are other choices—even though the closest viable choice outside California is a journey to Oaklawn Park. Racing managements at Del Mar and Santa Anita recognize the domination of Baffert in maiden races and 2-year-old stakes as a problem. That is a good first step, but the problem has been festering for several years without any progress toward a solution. They certainly can't look to Baffert for an answer. His success only breeds more success and more investment at the tip-top by his deep-pocketed clients. Appealing to those clients to consider sharing their valuable horses with other talented trainers is a naïve nonstarter, even if the overall competitive climate would be invigorated. As for the old-fashioned racing office option of limiting stall allocations to provide some degree of inventory control, that ship sailed long ago. The only way to generate more opportunities at the maiden race level—and try to correct the lopsided playing field that now exists—would seem to be a creative use of the condition book. Racing offices, including those out West, have flirted with six-figure maiden claiming races, despite the stigma attached. Talk of A and B groupings of maidens based on sales price has merit, although no racing secretary ever would want to artificially suppress field size. Baby steps have been taken, but grown-up strides are required. In the end, it's likely that the market will decide. There could come a day when open maiden races for 2-year-olds in Southern California are called off for lack of entries other than a handful of high-priced Baffert runners. The 2025 Del Mar Futurity was one flinch away from being a bet-less exhibition. At some point, as California's open maiden purses fall farther and farther behind those offered at casino-subsidized tracks, even Baffert's clients could urge their trainer to look elsewhere. In a very negative way, that might turn the tide. In the meantime, their roll will continue, while rival horsemen look on with a combination of admiration, envy, and resignation to their fate. After all, goes the familiar line, this is America. Opportunities abound. Anyone can go out and buy the finest, nearly bulletproof horseflesh if they have the means. "We don't have a monopoly," insisted Howard Hughes, who cornered the early 20th-century oil-drilling market with his Two-Cone bit. "Anyone who wants to dig a well without a Hughes bit can always use a pick and shovel."