Hope Road wins Bayakoa S. (G3) for second straight year

Bob Baffert sent out Hope Road in the Bayakoa S. (G3) Sunday at Del Mar, seeking to repeat her 2024 victory in the race, and she did just that, thoroughly dominating the one-mile race to win by 6 ½-lengths.

Baffert has now won the last four runnings of the Bayakoa, and a record six overall, in a race that dates back to 1981.

After finishing third to stablemate Splendora in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), Hope Road returned to the one-mile distance in the Bayakoa. Simply Joking was the early pacesetter, with Hope Road being ridden along patiently in second through the first half-mile. Juan Hernandez asked Hope Road to go around the turn, and she smoothly went by the pacesetter and easily opened up in the stretch. Geared down in the late stages, she stopped the timer in 1:36.68 on a fast track.

Owned by her breeder Cicero Farms LLC, Hope Road became racing’s newest millionaire with the win. A four-time graded stakes winner with a record of 6-4-2 in 14 starts, the 4-year-old has earned $1,016,620.