Book Review continued her love affair with seven furlongs, as the Bob Baffert trainee rallied past favorite Teddy’s Promise in the final sixteenth of a mile to win $200,000 A Gleam H. (G2) July 13 at Hollywood Park.
Making her first start since finishing second in the Grade 2 Santa Maria S. Feb. 16, Book Review was kept well off the pace and in the clear by rider Rafael Bejarano, while Winding Way showed the way with Teddy’s Promise in hot pursuit. Book Review was cut loose to go after the leaders outside the quarter pole, ultimately reeling in Teddy's Promise at the sixteenth pole and drawing off to a 2 1/2-length win in 1:22.75.
The 4-year-old Giant’s Causeway filly won for the fifth time in six tries at the distance.
"She loves this distance and it helped that we had a couple of good front runners in there, so it set up well," said Baffert’s assistant trainer Mike Marlow. “It’s actually what we had in mind.
"(Bejarano) rode her well. That was her first start on synthetic and that might have been her best footing. I think she really liked it."
With the victory – her sixth in 13 starts for owner-breeders Gary and Mary West – in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In’’ race, Book Review earned a fees-paid spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), which will be run Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.
Pushing her earnings to $884,955, Book Review, who is out of the Distorted Humor mare Clever Babe, provided Baffert with his second A Gleam victory in three years. The Hall of Fame trainer also won with Irish Gypsy in 2011.