Photo: Photo of Santa Anita/Benoit
game Go straight ahead and wasn’t on the way to a 1 3/4 length victory over stable Nevada Beach at $100,000 listed on Sunday Positive Stakes Four 3-year-olds go 1 1/16 miles on the Santa Anita main track.
Both the Game and Nevada Beach are trained by Bob Baffert and owned by partners Mike Pegram, Carl Watson and Paul Wightman.
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Gaming was on the Hector Belios for the first time as Jockey Juan Hernandez chose to stick to Nevada Beach and won his debut victory on April 19th. This was the first victory of the game in Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity since September. It was the first time Barrios has been on the winner of Buffate.
The game leads Baffert trained stocks in Sunday positive stakes for 3 year old children going from the gate to wire and go 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita pic.twitter.com/qurdwsktjq
– Santa Anita Park (@santanitapark) June 8, 2025
The game broke more than anything in the compact field, setting a fraction of 23.45, 47.10 and 1.35 on 6 furlongs while being tracked in both the 13-1 Outsider Rank and Nevada Beach. On the second turn Nevada Beach began to ride, and the game increased his lead slightly and poised to drive the field away. But that’s not the case. Rank ran in the game outside of him, re-engaged him all the way to the interior of Nevada Beach and returned to the mix.
The game was delayed again to lead the trio with the 16th pole, reaching 1:35.72, and to score the victory in a time of 1:41.92. Nevada Beach finished second in a three-quarter length before the ranks.
In the bet, the bettors made Nevada Beach a 3-5 favorite in the second choice game, 3-2. On the morning line, the game was preferred 4-5, with Nevada Beach having a second choice at 8-5.
According to Berrios, the race went as planned on the voyage of his maiden in the game.
“I wanted to go to lead,” Berios said. “I took a good position and he went very comfortable. Then I just waited and waited. He replied when I moved to him.”
The game had lost five consecutive starts. All stakes included four stakes on a gradual level. Following last year’s victory at Del Mar Futurity, Gaming came in third in Del Mar’s Breeders’ Cup boy, Los Aramitos Futurity (G2), second in Southwest Oak Lawn (G3) and Hot Springs Oak Lawn, second in Put Day Mile (G2) on May 3rd and second in second (G3).
“That’s something I thought might happen,” Paul Wightman said of the 1-2 finish of the owning group called the three Amigos. “It was what I wanted, but I didn’t know how the end would come. I didn’t know if Nevada (the beach) would eventually run. He couldn’t do it today.
By the time the game was winner, the game had improved to 8:3-2-1, with revenues of $771,000.
Without show bets, the game paid $5.00 and $2.40, while Nevada Beach returned $2.10.
