Champion Citizen Bull Comes Back A Winner In Grade III, Robert B. Lewis Stakes

By Jasmine Torrez —-

Benoit Photo
CHAMPION CITIZEN BULL COMES BACK A WINNER IN SATURDAY’S GRADE III, $200,000 ROBERT B. LEWIS STAKES FOR 3-YEAR-OLDS GOING A MILE AT SANTA ANITA

ARCADIA, CA (Feb. 1, 2025)—Citizen Bull, last year’s champion 2-year-old male, got the 2025 season off to a successful start Saturday when winning the Grade III, $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds going a mile at Santa Anita.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Citizen Bull (4-5) scored by 3 ¾ lengths under Martin Garcia in what was his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. Rodriguez (7-5) was second followed by Madaket Road (5-1), both also trained by Baffert, with Clock Tower (12-1) and Valentines Candy (49-1) completing the order of finish.

Citizen Bull bobbled out of the gate, but quickly went to the lead while racing on the inside. Rodriguez, making his first start versus winners, raced on Citizen Bull’s flank with Clock Tower further to the outside in third through fractions of 23.27 and 47.06 for the opening half mile.

“He was fresh,” Garcia said explaining Citizen Bull’s bobble at the start. “When I was warming him up, he just wanted to go and you could see that he was ready. When the gates opened it was like the ground broke underneath him. He just broke too fast. But right away he recovered”

Near the three-eighths pole, Citizen Bull continued to motor on the lead, but Rodriguez had fallen back to fourth behind Clock Tower and Madaket Road. Rodriguez, with Juan Hernandez aboard, then re-engaged around the turn and moved up to second. But by then it was too late to catch the leader. Citizen Bull reached the quarter pole in 1:10.99 with a 1 ½-length lead and extended his advantage through the stretch to win in a final time of 1:36.71.

“The champ is back,” Baffert said from the Winner’s Circle. “The ‘Bull’ looked good coming down (the stretch). It’s funny, you see him and you don’t realize that he has those gears. He won’t show you that in the morning, but he does have gears.”

This was Baffert’s seventh consecutive Lewis win and 13th overall. As an official prep for the Kentucky Derby, Citizen Bull earned 20 qualifying points towards this year’s Run for the Roses. Rodriguez collected 10 points and Madaket Road earned six points, Clock Tower, trained by Wesley Ward, got four points and Valentines Candy, trained by Jesus Mendoza, earned two points.

“My other horses ran really well,” Baffert said of Rodriguez and Madaket Road. “They are learning their styles, and they need a little more racing. We are happy and especially winning the Robert B. Lewis because he was one of my favorite clients of all time.”

Citizen Bull improved to 5: 4-0-1 with $1,521,000 in earnings for owners SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables et al. Prior to last year’s Breeders’ Cup, the Into Mischief colt won his debut at Del Mar in August and scored in the GI American Pharoah at Santa Anita in October. The lone blemish on Citizen Bull’s record is a third-place finish in the GI Del Mar Futurity in September.

Citizen Bull paid $3.80, $2.20 and $2.10. Rodriguez returned $2.40 and $2.10. Madaket Road, ridden by Frankie Dettori, paid $2.10.

GRADE III, $ 200,000 ROBERT B. LEWIS STAKES QUOTES

MARTIN GARCIA, CITIZEN BULL, WINNER: “He was fresh. When I was warming him up, he just wanted to go and you could see that he was ready. When the gates opened it was like the ground broke underneath him. He just broke too fast. Right away he recovered and I just sat, sat, sat and he took me right away. Bob knows when the horses are ready, that’s why he is in the Hall of Fame. He knows when the horse is ready.
“My horse took the pressure, and he was just so mature and professional.
“When he made the lead he kind of pinned his ears forward and he was waiting around for company. He was just messing around; he wasn’t very focused. He had one ear forward and one ear backwards, that means you have plenty of horse left.
“I feel really lucky because these are hard times and me being on a superstar horse like this it means a lot to me.”

JUAN HERNANDEZ, RODRIGUEZ, SECOND: “I just let him take the reins because the other horse broke in front of me already. I didn’t want to go and fight him. When I gave him the reins, he relaxed beautifully and responded really well around the bend. When I asked him to pick it up, he picked it up and started making his move.”

TRAINER QUOTES

BOB BAFFERT, CITIZEN BULL, WINNER: “You don’t know until their next start. He has been working really well. He is a big strong heavy horse and he handled it well. He wasn’t cranked up totally but he is such a good horse that he just caught another gear.
“My other horses ran really well. They are learning their styles, and they need a little more racing. We are happy and especially winning the Robert B. Lewis because he was one of my favorite clients of all time. It is so nice.
“The champ is back. The ‘Bull’ looked good coming down (the stretch). It’s funny you see him and you don’t realize that he has those gears. He won’t show you that in the morning, but he does have gears.”

NOTES: The winning owners are SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan.