This column highlights the performances of 3-year-old maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Santa Anita Park

Jan. 4 was certainly a day to remember for trainer Bob Baffert. Although the Hall of Fame conditioner boasts two Triple Crown victories on his resume, he had never won four races in a single card at his home track of Santa Anita Park. That eventful Saturday afternoon began with the dazzling, second-time out score of Rodriguez  in the second race, a one-mile maiden special weight event for newly minted 3-year-olds.

Named for Sixto Rodriguez, a late American musician who reached Elvis Presley-level success among fans in South Africa and Australia, the son of Authentic   was breathtaking in his first start around two turns. Rocketing to the front from his rail post, Rodriguez paved the way through testing early splits of :22.91 and :46.33 before strumming clear of his competition. The highly touted Baeza , a half brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) hero Mage   and 2024 Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) Stakes winner Dornoch  , closed to no avail, finishing seven lengths behind the runaway Rodriguez in second.

The cobalt-colored colt stopped the timer in a respectable 1:35.91 for the mile over a fast main track, racing his final furlong in :12.91 while well in hand. He received a 96 Equibase Speed Figure for his performance, improving nine points from his debut runner-up effort to stablemate Romanesque  when sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs Nov. 23 at Del Mar.

Rodriguez was just one of a bundle of talented colts purchased by the team known as the “Avengers” at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The group, led by Tom Ryan of SF Racing, Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables, and Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing, acquired likely 2024 2-year-old champion male and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Citizen Bull  as well as graded stakes winner Getaway Car  from that fortuitous Keeneland auction. Offered as a member of the first crop from 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic, Rodriguez dropped the hammer for $485,000 and would join the same barn of his champion sire a year later.

Produced from the Cherokee Run mare Cayala, Rodriguez is bred on a similar cross as two of his stakes-winning siblings, One Liner  and Provocateur  , as both hail from perennial leading stallion Into Mischief  , the sire of Authentic. One Liner captured the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park in 2017 before injury knocked him off the Kentucky Derby trail. He returned at 4 and placed second in the Pimlico Special Stakes (G3) before tailing off his best form. SF Racing raced One Liner in partnership with WinStar Farm and China Horse Club for a majority of his career.

Rodriguez’s other stakes-winning sibling, Provocateur, proved a useful sprinter during his 3-year-old campaign, landing black-type wins in the 2022 Hutcheson Stakes and Jersey Shore Stakes in addition to a grade 1-showing in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1).