Jan. 2, 2005

YEARLY REPORT EYES SUNSHINE MILLIONS
Bob Baffert, off to a solid start with three winners, three seconds and one third from 14 starters through the first six days of racing, said Yearly Report is on course for the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Distaff at Santa Anita on Jan. 29 despite missing the La Brea Stakes on Dec. 27 due to a minor ankle ailment.

“She’s back to the track,” Baffert said. “It depends on how much more rain we get if she can make the race.”

That said, Baffert supports the Sunshine Millions 100 percent.

“It’s a great program that Magna does for Florida-breds and California-breds,” Baffert said. “We’ve got the Breeders’ Cup and now we’ve got this and they’re both big days but racing needs more than a couple big days.”

CHARMING COLLEEN AIMS FOR SUNSHINE MILLIONS OAKS
Nick Hines is anticipating a Happy New Year for his barn and his major client, Gallery Furniture magnate James McIngvale, whose 3-year-old filly Charming Colleen is a nominee to next Sunday’s $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, although she has other races on the horizon.

“She came out of the race in good order and seemed to have gotten a lot out of it,” Hines said of Charming Colleen’s fifth-place finish behind Splendid Blended in the Hollywood Starlet on Dec. 19. “We paid a pretty penny for her ($500,000). It was a team decision. McIngvale and his scouts found the filly and she’s got a ton of talent. We ran in the Starlet knowing we might be a little short. My filly is a bit tricky because she can get a bit intense and we have to train her carefully in order for it to be beneficial to her well-being.

“Right now the Sunshine Millions Oaks (Jan. 29 at Santa Anita) is what we’re looking at. I’d also consider the Santa Ynez (Grade II at seven furlongs on Jan. 17) but it really depends on the direction some of the heavy hitters take.

“She came out of the Starlet very tired but I liked the fact that she was in a position to win the race. She just came up empty the last quarter-mile. The bottom line is this: she’s a Cal-bred so that gives us a lot of opportunities. I told Mac we should set ourselves up to start up the ladder. Why run in graded races when it’s a long year? One thing Mac told me when he hired me, he said, ‘I’m in this game to win Grade I’s.’

“For the amount of money he spent on this filly, my first impulse was to train her up to the Starlet, especially with Sweet Catomine out of there. But Splended Blended has improved several lengths since running against Sweet Catomine (in the Oak Leaf Stakes). Our intermediate goal is the Kentucky Oaks and the long-term goal is the Breeders’ Cup.”

The 34-year-old Hines, affectionately known as “The Sarge,” operates a public stable, which won with 24 of 213 starters last year. “I’ve got about 24 in training right now, five for Mac,” Hines said. “I’ve got a younger horse for Mac named Customer that I’m looking forward to running. He’s one of the few Silver Charms that I like and I say that boldly. When Mac made the transition, any time you go from one trainer to another, I like to look at like one man’s junk’s another man’s treasure but in this situation, what was supposed to have been a treasure was a lot of junk.

“To me, it’s all about communication. I was taught that in order to be successful in life you need to be honest. Instead of taking short cuts, take the long way home. Instead of lying about it, tell the truth and you save a lot of trouble later on down the road. With Mac it’s a situation where we’re building a relationship. I’ve only trained for him for three months. I’ve only had six starts and three of them were with During, who suffered from the Dubai jinx coming back from Dubai.

“So we can’t go into any situation and have our expectations too high. We need to be realistic and go from point A to point B. We look at things optimistically. McIngvale gave me this opportunity and personally I don’t think it could be going any better because we’ve already weathered a small storm. We had a couple unfortunate incidents and I gave two of his horses away that were worth about $400,000 because they weren’t able to carry on with training."