Meet the Contenders: 2025 San Felipe Stakes
Barnes wins the San Vicente S. at Santa Anita. (Photo by Benoit Photo)
February 25th, 2025
Meet the horses running in the 2025 San Felipe S. (G2) at Santa Anita. For each horse, we're listing a pro, a con, and a rating of potential. The star rating of 1 to 5 represents opportunity to perform well. Be sure to follow these contenders by adding them to your Stable Alerts.
Click on each horse name to add them to your stable. Never miss a race they're a part of again!
TwinSpires
#1 Mellencamp **
Pro: Bob Baffert must think highly of him to start him against serious stablemates.
Con: Would be quite a surprise to see this maiden knock off the big guns.
Journalism winning the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) at Los Alamitos (Photo by Benoit Photo)
#2 Journalism ****
Pro: Curlin colt ended his juvenile campaign on a high note easily winning Los Al Futurity (G2).
Con: Needs to quicken a bit to threaten the top duo from Baffert barn.
Barnes wins the San Vicente S. at Santa Anita. (Photo by Benoit Photo)
#3 Barnes *****
Pro: Current Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite is widely expected to handle the step-up in distance.
Con: Doesn’t tower over this field on speed figures and will be no kind of price.
In a photo finish, the buzz horse BARNES comes out on top on debut in R7 at @churchilldowns for trainer Bob Baffert with Martin Garcia aboard! 🤩
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) November 27, 2024
🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/SrvH6kCVHA
Rodriguez wins at Santa Anita. (Photo by Benoit Photo)
#4 Rodriguez ****
Pro: Earned big fig winning maiden two back; subsequent second to Citizen Bull was solid.
Con: Losing ground late in two of his previous three is a slightly discouraging trend.
TwinSpires
#5 Smooth Cruisein **
Pro: Beat Journalism in his debut; capable of more than he showed in San Vicente.
Con: Has quite the gap to close on Barnes based on his latter performance.
TwinSpires
#6 Berlin Wall *
Pro: Showed modest improvement second out, albeit against far inferior competition.
Con: Hard to endorse after failing to cross the wire first facing Cal-breds.
