Castaway ready to take on further challenges after his win in the Southwest Stakes
Castaway has been one of those juveniles, who have trouble winning their first race to really get their career underway, and he has shown that once you break the jinx than it all comes easy, at least that’s what his trainer, Bob Baffert, would be hoping
of him, especially nabbing a graded stakes win right after breaking his maiden.
It took Castaway five starts to break his maiden, as 2011 will be marked as a winless year for the Mrs. John Magnier owned 3-year-old colt, but cometh the hour cometh the horse as he destroyed a maiden special weight lineup in his first start of the new
campaign.
Going over 1 1/16 miles for the first time ever, Castaway was at ease over the fast main Santa Anita’s dirt track, where he failed thrice previously in an attempt to break his maiden, but 21 January, 2012, was a different and much brighter day, a day where
he broke his maiden under Joe Talamo.
It wasn’t that his maiden races came at considerable gaps, and Bob Baffert didn’t have to think twice over sending him against graded stakes company in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes, but the difference was that they were all newly turned sophomores so the
comfort zone was still there at Oaklawn Park.
However, it wasn’t on the cards before the race that Castaway would smash bash his way past a good looking lineup over a mile’s distance and win the race by 3 ¾ lengths.
Now it’s all done and history and Castaway along with Bob Baffert have to look at the bigger picture, which is the Triple Crown, and with that perspective its business as usual.
Out of the Storm Cat mare Priceless Storm, after his 6 to 1 upset in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes he is looking for a possible run in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on 10 March, or he might return to Oaklawn Park and extend his winning streak
to 3 in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on 17 March.
Along with jockey Martin Garcia, the 3-year-old son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Castaway worked and worked well as he clocked five-eighths in 1 minute and 1.20 seconds, the work being the 25th fastest out of 48 at the distance.
Bob Baffert’s massive 3-year-old contingent this year is in top form, and he will have his work cut out when he names his sophomores for the Triple Crown and with the rest of the season still to come.
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