Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran’s multiple graded stakes-winning Ag Bullet beat the boys in the $500,000 Jaipur Stakes (G1) during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga on Sunday, June 8. The victory provides Ag Bullet a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) at Del Mar. She now joins Caravel (2023) and Oleksandra (2020) as females to win the Jaipur.
Trained by Richard Baltas and ridden by John Velazquez, Ag Bullet won the 5 ½-furlong turf sprint by two lengths from Ontario-bred My Boy Prince, getting the distance in 1:03.62. By Twirling Candy out of the winning Forestry mare Noble Grey, Ag Bullet was bred in Kentucky by H & E Ranch.
“Very good filly,” said Baltas. “There’s only so many Grade 1s and she was third in the Breeders’ Cup against the boys. She ran very good that day.”
Velazquez said of the winning trip, “Broke well like we were expecting to break. One speed goes, and I sat right off them. She allowed me to sit right off them and when I asked her to go, she was there for me. It was pretty easy.”
Return to Kentucky Downs on Tap for Ag Bullet
Ag Bullet won the Monrovia Stakes (G3) last April at Santa Anita and added the Ladies Turf Sprint (G2) at Kentucky Downs to her ledger last August. In the Ladies Turf Sprint last year, Ag Bullet dominated a competitive field of 12, winning by 5 ¼ lengths and establishing a new course record of 1:14.19 for 6 ½ furlongs on turf.
Baltas indicated a return to Kentucky Downs could await his charge on her way back to California for this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Ag Bullet’s overall record now stands at 14-7-0-2 with earnings of more than $1.6 million.
“I’m going to run her at Kentucky Downs in the race she won last year,” Baltas said. “Maybe she is a five-and-a-half [furlong] horse. “I always wanted to stretch her out to six-and-a-half or a mile, but she might be better sprinting.”