Potente Surges Late to Capture the San Felipe Stakes

Under a perfectly timed ride by jockey Juan Hernandez, Potente scored his first graded stakes win in the $201,000 San Felipe Stakes (G2) March 7 at Santa Anita Park. Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Potente broke sharply but took back to settle just off the leaders. He stalked the pace down the backstretch and began to chase his rivals on the far turn. As the field came into the stretch, he sat in the third position and was starting to gain ground. Under a drive on the grandstand side in the final sixteenth, he forged ahead to edge longshot Robusta at the wire. At odds of 67-1, Robusta had to settle for second just a head behind the winner. The Mark Glatt trainee So Happy finished third. Secured Freedom took fourth, and Baffert's heavily favored Brant finished fifth in his first start since he was third in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar. He led the San Felipe until the quarter pole, setting fractions of :22.88, :46.62, and 1:10.42 while pressed throughout by So Happy. He then flattened out and was not able to keep up with his competition, weakening at the end. The first- through fifth-place finishers earned Kentucky Derby (G1) points on a scale of 50-25-15-10-5. Last year's winner, Journalism, finished second in the Kentucky Derby. "I knew the pace was going to be hot. I think Brant was a work away from this race. He got tired," Baffert said. "Potente is bred to go that far. He was ready for that. (Kazushi) Kimura (who rode Potente in his debut) told me he thought the horse was a two-turn horse. I was just a little disappointed in Brant. We're moving forward with Potente. He'll have another start before the Kentucky Derby." Still lightly raced with only two starts, today's effort for Potente ($18.20) could be just the beginning. "This horse has a lot of talent," Hernandez said of the winner. "He's big, he's strong, and he showed up today. As we turned for home, I swung out a little bit, and it took me a little while to get going, because, like I said, he's very big. "But man, he's a really, really nice horse. It's only his second start and he's improving. I think he's going to be even better next time." While Robusta may have been second, the Accelerate colt's connections believe he will keep improving in light of this effort. "He ran huge. The blinkers made the difference today," trainer Doug O'Neill said. "Brad Kelly of Calumet suggested them. The horse is a (Calumet) homebred and he's super talented. We're going to the Santa Anita Derby and the Kentucky Derby. Let's go." Potente is now 2-for-2 with earnings of $162,000 after breaking his maiden Jan. 31 at Santa Anita. He is owned by Speedway Stables, who purchased the son of seven-time leading sire Into Mischief at Fasig-Tipton's 2024 The Saratoga Sale for $2.4 million out of the Lane's End consignment. Pam and Martin Wygod bred the colt in Kentucky out of the Awesome Again mare Sweet Sting, and his second dam is 2000 champion grass mare Perfect Sting.