Game on Dude is the expected favourite for the Awesome Again Stakes
Bernie Schiappa, Joe Torre’s Diamond Pride, and the Lanni Family Trust’s Game on Dude has enjoyed success over varying distances, mostly over from 1 ¼ miles to 1 1/8 miles, and this weekend the Bob Baffert trained gelding will try his luck on 1 1/8 miles
– a distance where he has been successful three times out of five.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Awesome Again, will return to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 1, $250,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita Park on 29 September, 2012, that was formerly known as Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes.
Game on Dude should be back in his comfort zone after getting beaten by just half a length by Dullahan in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic going over a distance of 1 ¼ miles at Del Mar over the track’s synthetic surface on 26 August.
Bob Baffert keeping one eye on the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on 3 November, 2012, is making some significant changes. The conditioner has switched Game on Dude back to dirt after four starts over all-weather tracks in a row, and usual
jockey Chantal Sutherland will be replaced by Rafael Bejarano on the 124-pound high weight.
The duo will break from post 1, and the two have raced in tandem once before, and that was in an allowance optional claimer at Santa Anita Park in January last year.
Out of Devil His Due mare Worldly Pleasure, Game on Dude has been far more successful over the 1 ¼ miles, which is also the Classic distance. On 7 July, the gelding romped to a victory in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park.
Game on Dude has gone on to bank a whopping $2.8 million in his career, and gone on to win 8 out of 19 career starts, with 5 second place finishes and a lone third.
"We gave a lot of money for a gelding, and I think we bought him a week before the (2010) Florida Derby (gr. I)," Baffert said. "This year, he's really filled out. He's a stronger horse."
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