Goodwood Stakes 2025
The horse racing stakes calendar spans coast to coast this week, including the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita. Those unfamiliar with the name might know it as the Awesome Again Stakes, but the track reinstated the Goodwood Stakes name this year. Last year’s race was run as the California Crown Stakes and the prize purse got bumped to $1 million.
Seven horses are slated for the starting gate and three of them are trained by Bob Baffert, as he wants to see which one of his horses shows the most in this Breeders’ Cup Classic qualifier. Five winners of the Goodwood Stakes/Awesome Again Stakes have gone on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with Accelerate for John Sadler as the most recent back in 2018. Sadler also has an entry in this field.
This one will be Race 9 in your Saturday Santa Anita program with post time expected to be 8:08 p.m. ET / 5:08 p.m. PT.
Goodwood Stakes 2025 Entries, Horses, Jockeys, and Trainers:
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Gaming | M. Smith | B. Baffert | 6-1 |
| 2 | Ultimate Gamble | K. Kimura | M. Glatt | 8-1 |
| 3 | Privman | A. Fresu | B. Baffert | 5-1 |
| 4 | First Mission | TBD | B. Cox | 8/5 |
| 5 | Nevada Beach | K. Frey | B. Baffert | 12-1 |
| 6 | Express Train | H. Berrios | J. Shirreffs | 20-1 |
| 7 | Full Serrano | J. Hernandez | J. Sadler | 2-1 |
Paco Lopez was supposed to get the ride on First Mission, but he was suspended for six months by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, effective September 23. He violated the conditions of his reinstatement from a December crop rule violation and has had several others here in 2025. So the favorite gets a rider change here.
We can question whether or not this field of seven is Grade 1 quality, but the fact remains that a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is the prize for one of them.
Here are some thoughts on each horse at the odds at time of publish:
1. Gaming (6-1; Smith/Baffert): After winning this race aboard Subsanador for Richard Mandella, Mike Smith is back on a Bob Baffert horse. He’ll have the ride on Gaming, the runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Gaming’s win in the Del Mar Futurity more than a year ago was the second of three career triumphs, as he broke a five-race skid in the listed Affirmed Stakes in his lone Santa Anita start. That was back in June over 1 1/16 miles. This race is on the same dirt, but he’ll be asked to go 1 ⅛ miles this time.
Several different jocks have ridden Gaming in his career. Smith is not one of them.
2. Ultimate Gamble (8-1; Kimura/Glatt): Kazushi Kimura gets the ride on one of two 5-year-olds in this field, as Ultimate Gamble for Mark Glatt comes out of the No. 2 post. He is lightly-raced by 5-year-old standards with only 10 starts to his name and a 3-1-2 record over those efforts. Unfortunately, he only has one data point in a graded stakes event. It was the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 30, where he finished behind Fierceness and Journalism.
The third-place finish is impressive when you consider he went a mile and a quarter and actually ran rather well after the final turn. He had never gone more than 1 1/16 previously. He finished nearly 10 lengths off the lead, but did widen the gap over the other challengers late.
3. Privman (5-1; Fresu/Baffert): Another Baffert entry here, as Antonio Fresu draws the ride on Privman, the extremely well-bred son of Justify and Mo Knows. This is the stakes debut for this colt and it seems reasonable to trust Baffert’s intuition and experience, as he’s won this race eight times and has many other big victories in California. Privman has never gone past a mile, but has won as the favorite in each of his last two races.
Maybe it’s something, maybe it’s nothing, but regular rider Juan J. Hernandez is riding Full Serrano for John Sadler here instead of one of the three Baffert entries. He’s been the winning rider in Privman’s two triumphs.
4. First Mission (8/5; TBD/Cox): Paco Lopez is expected to appeal his six-month suspension, so we’ll see if he can get the ride on First Mission this weekend or if it will go to someone else. The 5-year-old son of Street Sense and Elude has 14 starts with six wins and 11 finishes on the board in total. This will be his first Santa Anita start. Shipping typically hasn’t been a huge problem, but a trip to the west coast is a new one.
He’s been good this year, with two thirds, a second, and a win in the G2 Oaklawn Handicap. Cox opted for this race over the Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, which does have a stronger field than this. Maybe Cox presumptively wanted First Mission on the west coast in advance of the Breeders’ Cup. Either way, while the speed figures of 2025 look plenty good enough to beat this field, I’m really wondering about the California dirt after starts at Oaklawn, Churchill, and Monmouth this year, but this had to be a calculated decision by Cox and Godolphin.
5. Nevada Beach (12-1; Frey/Baffert): For a horse that has a very good chance to be in the mix after the final turn, Nevada Beach is the second-longest shot on the board here. With two wins in three tries, including a first and second in listed stakes events, the son of Omaha Beach and Morrow Cove looks like a long shot that could have some bark and some bite. He is a young horse, both by age and experience, in this field. Kyle Frey will have to have a nearly flawless ride, but this is a speed horse likely to be pressing the pace and he’s already won at 1 ⅛ miles before.
This will be his first race since June 28, where he won the Los Alamitos Derby running away with less than three weeks worth of downtime from his previous race, a second to Gaming in the Affirmed.
6. Express Train (20-1; Berrios/Shirreffs): The elder statesman of this group is Express Train. His 27 starts are far and away the most of any contender in the field. He also hasn’t won in 10 straight races, but he’s finished on the board in most of them. Overall, this horse is “good, but not good enough” usually, including a third, in 2021 in this race and a fourth in 2022. He has hit the board 20 times in 27 races. Does he have enough in him to hit the board here?
He was second in the Santa Anita Handicap back in March and then didn’t race again until July, where he was fifth in the San Diego Handicap. Coming off of that, he finished third in the G2 Pat O’Brien with his highest Equibase Speed Figure ever.
7. Full Serrano (2-1; Hernandez/Sadler): The great unknown in this race is Full Serrano. He broke a 10-month layoff to win an allowance race at Del Mar on Sept. 1with a huge speed score. That was on the heels of coming to the U.S. last year to win his debut race and then finish second in the Pacific Classic at this distance. He was the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile champ a little over a month later.
This Argentinian horse from Full Mast and Serra Do Mar comes from Hronis Racing. When Accelerate won for Sadler in 2018, it was with Hronis Racing and then he went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He profiles to run up front here for the duration. Can he be caught in a field lacking closers?
Goodwood Stakes Predictions
I think Juan Hernandez is the most important person associated with this race. As arguably California’s top jockey, he isn’t on any of the Baffert horses here and goes with Full Serrano. I’m pleased with the fact that he has one start on him, as the Argentinian import has had a different rider in every U.S. race. Until now. Hernandez entered the week with a 25% win rate and hasn’t been under 24% since 2021.
So, I’ll take Full Serrano here over First Mission, even with some rider uncertainty. I like Fresu’s upside moving forward and like Privman for a board finish here. Scrappy Express Train to fill the super.
Prediction: 7-4-3-6
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