Bast holds off Donna Veloce in Grade 1 Starlet

Sunday | December 08, 2019


Bast and Donna Veloce were 1-2 the entire way in the $300,000 Starlet (G1) Saturday at Los Alamitos, with Bast getting the best of her foe by a half-length in a thrilling renewal of the 1 1/16-mile contest for 2-year-old fillies.

Bast gave Bob Baffert his third straight win, and sixth overall, in the Starlet, which was run previously at Hollywood Park. 

Bast is now a three-time Grade 1 winner, with previous wins in the Del Mar Debutante (G1) – when she broke her maiden – and Chandelier S. (G1). She was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), where Donna Veloce finished second.

The top-two finishers turned the Starlet into a match race. Bast was never headed, but also never in front by more than a half-length. She completed the distance in 1:43.36 on a “good” sealed surface. Behind the top two, it was a dozen lengths back to the rest of the field.

“She was doing so much better for this race than she was before the Breeders’ Cup race,” Baffert said. “I think the race before [the GI Chandelier S.] took a lot out of her. She was training like she did at Del Mar. That day [at the Breeders’ Cup] was my fault. She did well to hang on for third because that track was so deep and tiring. We knew when we got her on this dirt surface she would love it, and she just bounced over it. Turning for home I was confident because she had been doing so well and her last work was so strong.”

Bast is owned by the Baoma Corporation and has now earned $732,200 with a record of 3-1-1 in five starts. 

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