Crude Velocity overcomes trouble, wins Santa Anita maiden; first TDN Rising Star

Crude Velocity overcame a troubled trip to graduate in Race 6 at Santa Anita Park, winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight and earning the distinction as the first "TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard" for his sire, Beau Liam. The three-year-old colt’s victory on March 7, 2026 capped a race in which he was pinned to the inside, shuffled early and had to thread through traffic to catch the runner-up, Civil Liberty.

Off a rail draw, Crude Velocity was slow into stride and trailed the nine-starter field shortly after the break. He was in sixth through an opening quarter run in :22.23, then rushed up beneath jockey Florent Geroux while "under a tight hold" and racing in traffic just behind the leaders, a midrace sequence noted in the chart. That scramble through the pack set up the late run that allowed him to run down Civil Liberty and "get up" for the win, language used across reports describing the colt’s difficult trip.

Connections listed on the program were CSLR Racing Partners, LLC as owner and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert as trainer; Crude Velocity was one of three Baffert entries in the race. Florent Geroux rode the colt, who is by Beau Liam out of Sweetnsour Kitty, a Lemon Drop Kid mare. Airdrie Stud stands Beau Liam; TDN identified him as a "young sire" and awarded this juvenile the first Rising Star designation linked to that stallion.

Market indicators underscored that bettors had overlooked the colt: TDN noted he went off at a generous debut price of 10-1, and FanDuel Racing’s race call showed a mutuel payoff of $23.00 for the winner. The FanDuel tweet also supplied a succinct race call and attached media of the finish, while TDN’s coverage included the image caption "Crude Velocity in time | Benoit."

The win adds a high-profile early line to Beau Liam’s stallion credentials, with TDN’s Rising Star tag serving as a marker that the sire has produced a stakes-aspiring graduate. Official chart details beyond the opening quarter, including final time and margin of victory, were not provided in the available dispatches; reports emphasized the colt’s "nightmare journey" or "impossible trip" en route to breaking his maiden.

Crude Velocity’s connections now have a maiden winner who negotiated traffic and a slow start under Florent Geroux, a performance that sets up scrutiny of where Bob Baffert will place the colt next as he seeks to build on a victory that began from the rail and ended with a head-turning late charge.