GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), tuning up for a rematch with California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, worked six furlongs in 1:12.29 shortly before the first race at Santa Anita Sunday. Santa Anita timer Dane Nelson caught the gray 4-year-old through fractions of 23.86, 48.11, 1:00.40, 1:12.29, 1:24.82 and galloping out a mile in 1:37.97.
With Martin Garcia in the irons, Arrogate followed stablemate Uninvited (Misremembered) onto the track at 11:45 a.m. The pair proceeded to gallop down the stretch and, with Uninvited roughly 10 lengths in front, they each rounded the clubhouse turn and broke off from the three-quarter pole. From there, Arrogate settled into a steady rhythm under Garcia and overtook Uninvited a sixteenth of a mile from the wire.
“It went well today, I could tell,” trainer Bob Baffert, who watched the work from a private suite atop Santa Anita's box seat area with his wife Jill, son, Bode and jockey Mike Smith, said. “With every work, he's progressing. He's getting closer. We're starting to lean on him…Martin said he was picking it up late.”
Baffert continued, “It didn't seem like he was going that fast, but he was clicking right along. I couldn't be happier with the way we're coming into this. He's right on schedule. We just need to keep him healthy. When you work on a muddy track [it was actually labeled “fast”], you're always worried about their feet or something like that but…he travels really well over it. He really likes anything. Today, what I saw…I was really impressed.”
Arrogate's scheduled has been adjusted in the face of an unusually rainy California winter. A record-setting winner of the GI Travers S. in August, the Juddmonte colorbearer defeated California Chrome by a half-length in the Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 5. He had been expected to start in the Jan. 1 GII San Pasqual S., but Baffert decided to skip the race when the track came up muddy. Rain is in the forecast in the coming week, but Arrogate is tentatively scheduled to work again at Santa Anita next Sunday before shipping to Florida Jan. 24.
“I want to put a little breeze into him next Sunday,” Baffert said. “Probably not as strong as this. I'm still watching the Weather Channel and all is see is rain, rain, rain, but I'm lucky enough that we're getting these works in here.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
