#US RACING: WATCH TAIBA WIN THE PENNSYLVANIA DEBY

Taiba
Taiba

NOTE: VIDEO REPLAY BELOW ARTCILE

Stalking the pace throughout the 1 1/8-mile race, post-time favorite Taiba (7-5) made a four-wide move down the middle of the track on the way to a three-length victory Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby.
Owned by Amr Zedan, trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, the 3-year-old Gun Runner colt fended off the late challenge of Zandon (3-1), who would finish second. Cyberknife (4-1) took third, 6 3/4 adrift of the lead, and Simplification (15-1) was another head back in fourth.
The winning time was 1:48.67 on the fast track after White Abarrio (29-1) set the early pace at 23.27, 47.21 and 1:11.06. Taiba was clocked at 1:36.14 for the first mile.
White Abarrio ended up in fifth, followed in order by B Dawk (99-1), Naval Aviator (99-1), We the People (8-1), Skippylongstocking (10-1), Tawny Port (15-1) and Icy Storm (99-1).
“It was the Haskell (G1) all over,” Baffert said in a text, referring to Taiba’s second-place finish to Cyberknife in July at Monmouth Park. “A more mature Taiba handled it well.”
For Baffert it was his fourth Penn Derby victory, breaking his tie with Woody Stephens and Nick Zito. It was Smith’s third win, tying him with Joe Bravo for most by a jockey.
aiba, a $1.7 million purchase last year, earned his second Grade 1 victory after having scored April 9 in the Santa Anita Derby. That tied him with Cyberknife and Jack Christopher for most top-level wins for a 3-year-old male this year in North America.
It was the second $1 million victory Saturday for a Gun Runner foal. Society won the Cotillion (G1) for 3-year-old fillies in the race right before the Penn Derby.
“Gun Runner is an unbelievable sire, and this guy (Taiba) looks more like Gun Runner than a lot of them,” Baffert said.
The all-sources handle for Saturday’s card was a record $18,844,528. That was a 36.6 percent increase from last year’s record of $13,799,454.

 

 

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