Stretching out for the first time, Callback became a Grade 1 winner Jan. 31 when she took the field gate to wire to win the $300,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
The half-length score with Martin Garcia aboard was the first stakes win for Spendthrift Farm's daughter of Street Sense . Defeating eight other 3-year-old fillies in the one-mile test, the lightly raced Callback was timed in 1:36.92 at 5-2 odds over a fast track.
Baffert, earning his fourth victory in the Las Virgenes, took blinkers off Callback for the first time in four starts. The bay filly was coming off a runner-up finish to begin the year Jan. 3 in the 6-1/2-furlong Santa Ynez Stakes in her stakes debut.
Callback, paying $7.20 to win, defeated a trio of Jerry Hollendorfer fillies, with Light the City second, Achiever's Legacy third, and Majestic Presence fourth. Street Sense sired both the winner and runner-up.
The most expensive filly in the field, the fast-developing Callback was acquired by Spendthrift owner B. Wayne Hughes for $375,000 from the Paramount Sales consignment at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. Vincent Colbert bred Callback in Kentucky out of the Forest Wildcat mare Quickest.
Spendthrift won the Las Virgenes for the second time in three years following two-time champion Beholder in 2013.
It wasn't a perfect result for Baffert, as his Maybellene, the slight 2-1 favorite over Callback, faded to eighth after stalking the pace along the inside.
"We've always been pretty high on her," he said of Callback. "They were high on her when they sent her in. I wanted to run one-two. My other filly [Maybellene], she just didn't kick today.
"You train them for two turns; I knew [Callback] was going to be forwardly placed and she worked really well coming into it. I thought her last race was really good. She was a little bit intimidated down in the one hole and with the blinkers."
Baffert said the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks April 4 would definitely be considered for Callback's next start.
"It was nice to get a win for Wayne Hughes. He couldn't make it today [from Malibu]. He was ill with a little cold."
Showing speed from between horses, Callback took the lead and moved to the inside to show the way over Suva Harbor, Maybellene, and Light the City on the far outside. Callback was pushed along through the first half mile, clipping off fractions of :22.89 and :46.88 before inching away on the second turn while reaching the quarter pole in 1:11.42.
Leading by 1-1/2 lengths at the furlong mark, she fought back gamely along the inside when challenged by Light the City and Kent Desormeaux, prevailing under left-handed urging by Garcia.
"I was just cruising all the way around there," Garcia said. "I asked her a little going into the far turn and then again when Light the City came back at us; she took off. There was no way they were going to go by us.
"I don't see why stretching out further would be any problem; she's a good filly. She can do anything you want."
Light the City was 3-1/2 lengths clear of stablemate Achiever's Legacy, ridden by Drayden Van Dyke. Majestic Presence was followed by another Hollendorfer trainee, Lutine Belle, in fifth. Then came Suva Harbor, Miss Mandate, Maybellene, and Mio Me. A fifth Hollendorfer entrant, Glory, was scratched.
Callback, who broke her maiden Dec. 4 at Los Alamitos Race Course, boosted her earnings to $245,450. She paid $7.20, $5, and $4.40 for the win, topping a $50.80 exacta. Light the City, bouncing back from a fifth in the Santa Ynez while also stretching out to two turns for the first time, returned $8.20 and $6.20. Achiever's Legacy paid $6.80.