Eight Rings
A son of Empire Maker, Eight Rings has raced four times, showing up as a flashy first out winner on Aug. 4 at Del Mar before he dumped rider Drayden Van Dyke at the start of the Del Mar Futurity (G1). With John Velazquez newly up, the colt rolled to a six-length win in the Sept. 27 American Pharoah (G1) at Santa Anita.
Ranking then among top prospects for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Eight Rings pressed outside of Storm the Court and looked poised to pounce at the top of the stretch Nov. 1. Instead, he faded from contention, finishing sixth in a puzzling showing.
Eight Rings worked three times following the Breeders’ Cup before given time by Baffert. Since then, stakes winners such as Thousand Words, Nadal and High Velocity have emerged for the barn, too. Nadal is also a possibility to run in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, which pays out Derby qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 basis to its top-four finishers.
