Baeza sharp in Saratoga drill, on track for Stephen Foster showdown

Baeza turned a quiet morning at the Oklahoma training track into the day’s headline at Saratoga, covering five furlongs in 1:01.06 on May 26 and finishing with a gallop-out to six furlongs in 1:14.32. The drill was the fastest of five at the distance that morning, and it read less like maintenance than a horse sharpening for a real fight.

That matters because the clock only tells part of the story. Baeza worked solo, wore blinkers and went under regular rider Neil Poznansky, all signs that Bill Mott wanted something professional and specific rather than a casual leg stretcher. The move came just 25 days after Baeza was beaten into third in the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on May 1, when a bad break compromised him early. This time, the gelding did what good older horses do when they are moving right: he finished his work with authority.

Mott inherited Baeza after the death of John Shirreffs earlier in the year, and the colt’s current shape gives him a legitimate path into the $2 million Stephen Foster on June 27 at Churchill Downs. Churchill doubled the race from $1 million on May 20, a clear signal that this year’s Foster is being built as a major older-dirt-horse showdown, not just another summer stakes. Baeza is already on that road, and Mott has said he is trying to do the best job possible with both Baeza and Sovereignty, even if keeping them separated becomes difficult.

That possible collision is the kind of thing that gives the Foster real weight. Sovereignty, the reigning Horse of the Year, returned from a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 18 with a half-mile breeze in 50.05 seconds at Saratoga on May 16. White Abarrio, Magnitude and Skippylongstocking also sit in the mix, which means the race could end up stacked from top to bottom.

Baeza has earned his place in that field. He owns a record of 10 starts, 2 wins, 3 seconds and 3 thirds, with $1,717,200 in earnings, and his résumé includes a breakthrough in the 2025 Pennsylvania Derby, plus runner-up finishes in the Santa Anita Derby and Jim Dandy and thirds in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Alysheba. If the question was whether he looked ready for another step forward, the answer from Saratoga was yes. The deeper question is whether this was merely a tune-up or the first public hint that Baeza is peaking at exactly the right time. Todd Pletcher’s changing plans with Zany, who is moving from the Acorn to the Coaching Club, only underline how quickly the summer map is shifting for the sport’s top stables.