'Dortmund' Stays Undefeated With Win In Lewis At Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Dortmund rallied to hold off Firing Line by a head and win the $150,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, a key West Coast prep race on the Kentucky Derby trail.

Ridden by Martin Garcia, Dortmund ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.20 and paid $3.20, $2.10 and $2.10 as the 3-5 favorite in the field of five 3-year-olds. The victory kept undefeated at 4-0 for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. The colt earned 10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.

Dortmund also beat Firing Line by a head in the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20.

Firing Line returned $2.20 and $2.10, while Rock Shandy was another 21 1/2 lengths back in third and paid $2.10 to show.

Dortmund, a chestnut colt sired by 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, was collared by Firing Line midway around the far turn and trailed by a half-length leaving the eighth pole.

"It looked like Firing Line went by me, but in the end, when I asked him, he just started coming back," Garcia said. "Firing Line gave us pressure, but my horse just took off again."

Firing Line appeared to gain a clear advantage in deep stretch, but couldn't hold off the winner.

"I saw that Martin was asking his horse and he wasn't getting any response and I was sitting there with a lot of horse," Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens said. "I thought I would never say that I moved too early at the eighth pole in a dirt race, but I moved too early. I thought we buried the one we had to beat and then I saw the shadow coming back at me."

The victory, worth $90,000, increased Dortmund's career earnings to $449,400.

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