NEWS
Lookin At Lucky captures CashCall Futurity
Posted: Saturday, December 19, 2009 8:07 PM
LOOKIN AT LUCKY
Benoit & Associates photo
To view the CashCall Futurity, click here.
by Steve Bailey
Lookin At Lucky probably cemented the Eclipse Award as champion two-year-old male on Saturday as he took command in the stretch and powered to a three-quarter-length victory in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (G1) at Hollywood Park.
It was the third Grade 1 triumph of the year for the Bob Baffert-trained Smart Strike colt, who won five of six starts this season with a second by only a head to Vale of York (Ire) following a troubled trip in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) on November 7.
Looking At Lucky gave Baffert a record fifth Futurity win. He previously won the race with Real Quiet in 1997, Captain Steve in '99, Point Given in 2000, and Pioneerof the Nile in '08.
"So we're just gonna freshen him up and I'll probably run him about two times before [the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1)]," Baffert said of Looking At Lucky. "I don't know [where]. I haven't figured it out. he might ship out, I don't know. either go to Oaklawn Park, New York, you never know."
Baffert also entered The Program and Marcello in the 1 1/16-mile test, but the race, in the end, boiled down to a battle between the field’s two Grade 1 winners—Lookin At Lucky and Chasing Dreams Racing’s Noble’s Promise.
The Program went right to the front and took the field through a quarter-mile in :24.03 and a half-mile in :48.30 as Lookin At Lucky, under jockey Garrett Gomez, raced along the inside never more than a couple lengths off the lead through the first four furlongs.
Turning for home, Gomez asked Lookin At Lucky to make his move and the colt enthusiastically responded, inching away with each powerful stride down the lane to cover the distance in 1:43.30 on the synthetic Cushion Track surface.
Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) winner Noble’s Promise closed willingly to finish second, a half-length ahead of Make Music for Me in third.
Owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman, Lookin At Lucky also won the Best Pal Stakes (G2), the Del Mar Futurity (G1), and the Norfolk Stakes (G1) prior to his runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He boosted his earnings to $1,243,000 with Saturday’s victory.
Lookin At Lucky is one of two winners from as many starters out of the winning Belong to Me mare Private Feeling and is a half brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Kensei.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times
