Dr. Dorr cruises to Santana Mile victory

Dr. Dorr’s first stakes win in Saturday’s $75,000 Santana Mile was a family affair for his trainer Bob Baffert and wife Natalie, who owns the 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky.

The trainer is also listed as the breeder of the dark bay, along with Madeline Auerbach and Jack Klugman.

Dr. Dorr had things mostly his own way, setting a fairly moderate pace, then drawing off in the lane under Joe Talamo.

“Cruise control,” said Talamo. “We didn’t have any instructions today (Baffert was away in Dubai, and his assistant, Mike Marlow handled the saddling duties). We just figured it out. He broke on top, relaxed down the backside and laid it down in the lane.”

Dr. Dorr was making only his second career start around two turns after mostly sprinting. He upped his record to 4-0-1 in 10 starts and has banked $168,320.

The trainer has won four runnings of the Santana since 2010, including with Collected in the 2017 edition. Baffert was in Dubai on Saturday for the $10 million World, where West Coast ran second and Mubtaahij ran third. Both horses surpassed the $5 million mark in earnings with the showings.