Varda gives Baffert his 7th Starlet S. (G1) winner

Varda rallied from last at the top of the stretch to win Saturday’s $300,000 Starlet S. (G1) at Los Alamitos Racetrack by 1 1/2-lengths, the first graded stakes win for the 2-year-old filly trained by Bob Baffert for the Baoma Corp.

Varda, who had finished second to stablemate Princess Noor in the Chandelier S. (G2) in late September, had a very wide trip on Saturday. She was last of five around both turns while staying well out into the center of the track. Princess Noor took the lead from from Kalypso as the field entered the stretch, but then bolted to the outside fence and was pulled up, then walked into the van under her own power. Kalypso inherited the lead and looked like the winner momentarily, but Varda rolled past in deep stretch to win by 1 1/2-lengths in 1:44.53 for the 1 1/16-miles on the fast main track.

Varda “is a filly that’s been training really, doing really well, and we knew distance was her friend. (Kaylpso) ran a good race. She was out there, going pretty fast,” said Baffert, who also trains the runner-up.

Varda, who sold to her owner for $700,000 at this year’s OBS April sale, has now won two of three starts and has earned $254,500.

The Starlet awarded Varda 10 points toward the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). 

“We got her back to the barn. She looks better. She x-rayed clean,” Baffert reported on Princess Noor later in the day. “It looks like she might have hit herself above the ankle—there’s a tendon area that looks like some swelling there. We’re just going to monitor her for a few days, see if she did any damage there.”