Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes And Grade 3 Precisionist Stakes Have Classy Favorites

The Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes have been run annually since 1976 at distances between 1 mile and 1 1/8 miles. Until 2014 it was run at Hollywood Park, which was an all weather track for seven of the races before the switch to Santa Anita. Dalmore won the race last year in stylish fashion defeating Danzing Candy and Bob Baffert. Baffert won the previous two Affirmed Stakes with Gimme Da Lute and Can The Man. All three of these horses won from either closely stalking the front runners or being on the front end. Without a Baffert horse this Saturday there will be group of 5 going along for the 1 1/16 miles journey. The favorite is going to be Battle of Midway, by Smart Strike, a branch of the Mr. Prospector male line. Smart Strike also sired such stallions as Curlin and English Channel, he is sire to multiple million dollar earners and Battle of Midway looks to be his next. A well accounted for third in the Kentucky Derby to go along with a hard fought second in the Santa Anita derby are results of his last two efforts. Battle of Midway should be out for the early lead. Term of Art looks to be the competition for Battle of Midway . Term of Art is a grade 3 winner, by Tiznow out of Miles of Style, an unraced mare by Storm Cat. Arms Runner, by Overdriven out of Back to Basics, is a half sibling to Calculator. Arms Runner will be making not only his dirt debut but also his first time going a route. B Squared is a multiple surface winner stepping up into graded stakes company from recent stakes races. Quiet dude rounds out the field.
Also on the card is the Grade 3 Precisionist Stakes. A race containing Baffert standout Collected. Fresh off his Grade 2 California romping winning the race by 3 3/4 lengths over Follow Me Crev who lost to Collected’s stablemate Cupid by only 3 ¼ lengths in the Grade 1 Gold Cup. Collected is by City Zip who has showed versatility as a sire with multiple black print winners including: Breeder’s Cup Sprint winner Work All Week as well as Dayatthespa, winner of the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Collected is nostranger to the front end and likes to sit just off the pace or on the lead. If he runs to his odds it should make for an interesting summer with Baffert also having; Arrogate, Danzing Candy, Cupid, Mor Spirit
and Hoppertunity in his barn just to name a few. Baffert also sends out Cat Burglar, a 7yr old horse by Unbridled’s Song who is sire to the leading earner of all time Arrogate. Cat Burglar is coming off a sprint victory against allowance company last time out and has run well at Santa Anita with 6 wins and 2 seconds from 9 races. Accelerate who was third in the Breeder’s Cup Dirt Mile may look to sit off the pace and make a run down the stretch. Keane (arg) is making his U.S. debut bringing a Grade 1 winning resume with him. Donworth by Tiznow is also going the 1 1/16 miles