Following a solid series of workouts over the past two months, Gemologist’s Aquamarine came away a two-length maiden special weight debut winner Friday at Santa Anita Park.
The Bob Baffert trainee hustled out of the gate in hot pursuit of Aristocratic, who zipped through a quarter in :21.55 and a half-mile in :44.81. The pacesetter began to tire in the stretch, with Aquamarine wearing him down in the final furlong to finish the 5 ½ panels in 1:04.13 on a sloppy racetrack (VIDEO).
Owned by Zayat Stables, Aquamarine picked up $32,400 for the win. The chestnut colt was bred in Florida by H&A Stables LLC and was purchased by Zayat for $240,000 out of the 2015 OBS Yearling sale last August.
Gemologist, a top-five Freshman Sire of 2016, had 14 winners from his stellar first crop, topped by Frizette S. (G1) winner Yellow Agate and Futurity S.(G3) winner Theory. Gemologist is standing this year at WinStar Farm for a fee of $25,000 stands and nurses.
