Baffert hit stakes milestone at Del Mar

Bob Baffert won his 100th stakes race at Del Mar Friday as Kaleem Shah’s 6-5 favored Fed Biz re-rallied after being passed in deep stretch to outgame Jimmy Creed in the featured $100,000 El Cajon S.

Fed Biz hit the wire a neck in front of Jimmy Creed and jockey Garrett Gomez after falling back by as much as a head with less than a furlong remaining of the one-mile contest over the main track.

Afterward, Baffert reflected on his accomplishment. “Del Mar has always been special for me. I claimed my first horse here. It all started at Del Mar with Mike Pegram. I’ve had a lot of good horses through the years here and I’ve been really fortunate to have all those good horses.”

Baffert is the all-time leader in number of stakes victories at Del Mar, ahead of five fellow Hall of Famers, Ron McAnally (75), who is still active; the late Charlie Whittingham (74), the late Bobby Frankel (70), and Richard Mandella (49) and D. Wayne Lukas (48), both still active. Baffert began the current meeting with 93 stakes triumphs.

Baffert’s long list of stakes winners include 21 Grade 1 winners, including a sweep of all five Grade 1 races during the 1999 meet and 10 victories in the Del Mar Futurity, traditionally run the final day of the meet.