
Bast bests Comical in G1 Chandelier S.
Bob Baffert won the $300,000 Chandelier S. (G1) at Santa Anita Park for a record 11th time on Friday when the dynamic filly Bast out-dueled Comical to win by a neck and earn an automatic berth in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), also to be run at Santa Anita.
Bast, who won the Del Mar Debutante (G1) by some nine lengths, got a very stern test from Comical in the 1 1/16-mile Chandelier, the first time around two turns for both fillies. Comical was away from the gate best and led Bast by a head through the first half-mile in :49.54. The two were side-by-side the rest of the way, with Bast taking the advantage in the final sixteenth to finish the distance in 1:46.10.
“This track, it’s a different track (than Del Mar). It’s very demanding,” said Baffert. “She handled it. She had every reason to quit running at the end. It was a nice little field here. She didn’t run like a 1-9 shot, but she got the W and that’s what counts right now.”
Bast, a daughter of Uncle Mo, is owned by Baoma Corporation and is 2-1-0 in three starts and has earned $372,200.
Baffert has won four of the eight runnings of the Chandelier. Prior to 2012, the race was called the Oak Leaf S., which he won seven times, including four in a row from 1997-2000.

