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Justin Manning / Eclipse Sportswire

Anticipating Zero Sugar’s career debut, owner Staton Flurry said he was excited to see the Twirling Candy colt entered in a maiden special weight sprint for 3-year-olds last month at Oaklawn.

Then, Flurry checked the competition.

“I looked at the overnight for Zero Sugar’s race and saw Cornucopian and I started cussing,” Flurry said.

Roughly a month earlier, Flurry said he received a call with a tip on a horse, information that was percolating in Southern California about an unstarted Into Mischief colt for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

“If you can find a Derby future on him, he’s the next Justify,” Flurry said he was told during the conversation. “They said his name is Cornucopian. The guy out there I know said this thing worked like a freak and Baffert really thinks highly of him.”

Zero Sugar ran well Feb. 23 for Flurry and co-owners Jeremy Stone of Hot Springs and Californian Corey Smith. Cornucopian? Well, he ran like a freak.

Heavily favored Cornucopian ($3.40) rolled to a front-running 5 3/4-length victory over Zero Sugar on the Rebel Stakes (G2) undercard. Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., Cornucopian’s final clocking of 1:09.02 was the fastest in Oaklawn history for a six-furlong maiden special weight event for 3-year-olds. Edgeway ran 1:09.05 in her Feb. 29, 2020, career debut. She finished second the following year in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1).

Cornucopian received a Beyer Speed Figure of 101 from Daily Racing Form, which, through Wednesday, was the fifth highest in the country this year for 3-year-olds.

“We’ve always thought highly of him,” Baffert said Feb. 27. “I’m very fortunate to have a nice group of 3-year-olds this year. I wish the (Kentucky) Derby was in June, a little catch-up time. The nice ones, you have to keep healthy and run them in the right spot. So, I’ve got a lot of planning. We’ve been here. We know what it takes to get there with a nice horse. I like running in those big races like that. I’m glad to be able to win a race at Oaklawn again.”

Justify, also trained by Baffert, made all six career starts at 3, the first coming Feb. 18, 2018, at Santa Anita. Justify, in his two-turn debut, won an allowance race in March and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) in April before sweeping the Triple Crown.

Baffert said Cornucopian was close to a race last summer at Del Mar before a “little setback.”

“I had to stop on him,” said Baffert, who has several Kentucky Derby hopefuls this year, including champion Citizen Bull and Barnes. “That’s why it took so long. He had a pretty good foundation on him, so that race was nothing for him. Like I said, we’ve got a handful of them like that here, so we’re very fortunate. We don’t have that many, but we have some good ones.”

Cornucopian returned to the work tab Wednesday at Santa Anita, covering a half-mile in 49.8 seconds. Baffert said late last month that he had “an idea” about Cornucopian’s next start, but nothing was set in stone.

“I like to wait a couple of weeks after they run to see how they really came out of it,” Baffert said.

Purchased for $1.1 million at the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale, Cornucopian races for a high-profile ownership group that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables and Stonestreet Stables.

Cornucopian gave Baffert his 41st career Oaklawn victory. Later on the card Madaket Road, also trained by Baffert, finished second in the Rebel Stakes. The Rebel was Oaklawn’s final major prep for the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 29.

Baffert said he plans to be represented in the Arkansas Derby, a race he’s won a record-tying five times, including last year with Muth. Baffert has a record-tying six Kentucky Derby victories.

As for Zero Sugar, Flurry said he was ecstatic with the how the colt ran at odds of 14-1.

“If he didn’t hook Baffert’s horse, that might have been the most impressive maiden special weight this year for straight 3-year-olds,” Flurry said. “He ran an 89 Beyer on debut. Ninety-nine out of 100 percent of the time, that wins the race.”

Flurry, Oaklawn’s leading owner last season, purchased Zero Sugar for $180,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s 2024 Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale. Zero Sugar is trained by Cipriano Contreras.