Casalu gets breakthrough win in Blue Norther S.

Bob Baffert’s 2-year-old filly Casalu has had several close calls in stakes company over the last several months and finally found the winner’s circle Dec. 28 at Santa Anita Park in the Blue Norther S.

Casalu drew widest of all in the field of eight going one-mile on the turf. She lost some ground while three-wide on the first turn, then made up good ground on the backstretch to be within a length of the lead entering the final turn. She swiftly gained on the pacesetter Resolve and came into the stretch with a narrow advantage. She widened her lead from there to win by 1 ½-lengths in 1:34.63 on the firm turf.

“She is easy to ride and she broke sharp from the gate,” said winning rider Kazushi Kimura. “We just sat back in a nice position and waited until the top of the stretch. She responded really well.”

Casalu is owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. The bay filly, who placed in the Jimmy Durante S., Surfer Girl S. and Sorrento S., all Grade 3 events, is now 2-2-1 in seven starts and has earned $174,546.