The decision to go west for Starts Now, the 5-year-old Mucho Macho Man mare out of Very Funny has paid off. After racing exclusively on the NYRA circuit since her debut in 2022, Starts Now appeared to be in top form, winning an Allowance Race at Aqueduct on November 17th and doing so with an 89 Equibase figure, the highest in her career, surpassing the matching 82 figures as the previous high in her career, which occurred in her previous 2 starts. That’s when a difficult decision had to be made, with the turf course closing for the winter in New York, does Starts Now also shut it down for the winter, or do we go elsewhere and see if this the start of something special?
Richard Baltas, a California based trainer got the call and Starts Now shipped off to Santa Anita. On January 4th she debuted in a Starter Allowance at Santa Anita. After sitting mid pack, Starts Now charged down the stretch finishing second, losing to Tirupati who would go on to finish second in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes on March 1st. That race would set a new high Equibase figure of 93 and got surpassed with a 94 speed figure in her next race on February 2nd. Despite the fifth-place finish, Starts Now ran a great race hitting the stretch in 2nd and staying within striking distance into the final furlong but couldn’t produce a bid to the wire.
That brings us to Sunday and with all the stars in Hollywood for the Oscars, all the stars aligned perfectly for Starts Now on the March 2nd start. Reigning Eclipse award winning jockey, Flavien Prat, took the mount and Starts Now drew the outside post which would ensure a clean break from the gate. From there everything went according to plan. Starts Now grabbed the early lead and never looked back, scoring an easy 2 1/2 length win in the one and an eighth mile Starter Allowance race in 1:49.16.
The win gave Starts Now a new career high 99 Equibase figure. It marked our stable’s first win at Santa Anita as we have now registered wins at 19 different tracks. It was also our first trip to the Winner’s Circle with jockey Flavien Prat and trainer Richard Baltas. Congratulations to the connections and our partners at Bloom Racing Stable on the win!