Noted and Quoted Writes Up Win in Chandelier

The “other Baffert,” Noted and Quoted, rallies to win the Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita.

Everyone knows — or at least they should — that, when it comes to big races, sometimes the smart idea is to bet the “other Baffert.” In Saturday’s $300,000 Chandelier Stakes (GI) at Santa Anita those who follow that rule were rewarded handsomely as the “other Baffert,”Speedway Stable LLC’s Noted And Quoted, earned her first career stakes victory by a half-length over 10 rivals and rewarded her backers with payouts of $16.80, $8.40 and $5.80 when she left the gate at odds of more than 7-1.

The diminutive daughter of The Factor spent much of the summer in the shadow of her flashy stablemate, American Cleopatra, until she broke loose with an impressive 9 ¼-length maiden score at Del Mar in early August. But a dull fourth-place effort in the Del Mar Debutante (GI) last out made her a less attractive choice for the win.

Originally Baffert had decided to send the filly to next week’s Alcibiades Stakes (GI) at Keeneland, but she was training so well at Santa Anita he decided to let her run in the Chandelier instead — a move that proved to make all the difference.

“I don’t know what happened [in the Del Mar Debutante],” Baffert said. “She was training good, but not like she had been before she broke her maiden. It wasn’t awful, but her attitude wasn’t great. But when she got here [from Del Mar], she was training so well. I thought I’d send her to Kentucky, but she was really doing so well, so I decided to run her here.”

After dueling for the early lead with With Honors through fractions of:23.29, :47.10 and 1:11.81, Noted and Quoted took her advantage from that rival at the top of the stretch and under a vigorous ride from jockey Rafael Bejarano, dug in gamely to earn the victory. After posting the mile in 1:37.73, she stopped the Teletimer in 1:44.40.

“I have to give Bob a lot of credit for this,” Bejarano said. “I have ridden both fillies and I started off wanting to ride American Cleopatra because I thought [with her pedigree] she might be the better filly. But I don’t think she wants to go two turns. Baffert told me that he thought I might want to stay on Noted and Quoted, because she was going to be prepared to run the mile and a sixteenth. And he was right. American Cleopatra was right next to me but Stewart (jockey Elliott) didn’t have enough horse and mine was the better horse today.”

With Honors held on gamely to second and was worth $10.60 and $7.60 at odds of nearly 10-1. Zappercat, the lukewarm 5-2 favorite, paid $3.80. The exacta was good for $63.10 and the $.50 trifecta was worth $152.80.

Champagne Room, Lake Time, Bitzka, Nikki My Darling, American Cleopatra, Demigoddess, Datz a Violation and Mistressofthenight completed the order of finish after Princess Coco was withdrawn.

Next stop for Florida-bred Noted and Quoted, according to Baffert, will be the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) in five weeks.

Margaret Ransom

California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.

After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.

She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.

In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law known as the “Borell Law.”

Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time. She lives in Pasadena with her longtime beau, Tony, two Australian Shepherds and one Golden Retriever.