Hope Road

Hope Road made three starts as a 2-year-old in 2023 including a pair of runner-up finishes against maidens and an 11th-place finish in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante. Hope Road earned her maiden win the following year in 2024 when making her 3-year-old debut off a nine-month layoff in a six-furlong dirt race at Santa Anita on June 15. Hope Road then added a wire-to-wire allowance optional claiming 5 1/2-length win at Del Mar in her next start which came at the same six-furlong distance on Aug. 4. 

Hope Road jumped back up in class against stakes competition in her next race, and was successful this time with a victory in the Grade 3 $150,000 Torrey Pines Stakes going one mile on the main track on Aug. 31 at Del Mar. Hope Road sat behind a runaway pace-setter in the Torrey Pines after being sent off as the 1-2 odds favorite in a six-horse field and then blasted to the lead on the turn and took control in the stretch to win by five lengths.

After a two-month break, Hope Road returned in search of another graded stakes win on the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday undercard at Del Mar. She was sent off as the heavy favorite in the Grade 3, one-mile Bayakoa Stakes and validated that support with a half-length win over Alpha Bella.

Hope Road returned for her 4-year-old campaign in 2025 but went winless in her first three outings of the year including a second-place finish in Santa Anita's Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes, a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs, and a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Hope Road finally found the right spot for her first win of 2025 in the Grade 1 $500,000 Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes going seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 23. Sent off as the 2.05-1 favorite in a seven-horse field in the Ballerina, Hope Road raced up-close right behind a fast pace, challenged in the stretch, and prevailed by a margin of two lengths under jockey Jose Ortiz in a time of 1:21.93. The Ballerina was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series "Win and You're In" race, and with her victory she earned a fees-paid berth into the PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

In the Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 1 at Del Mar, Hope Road set a contested early pace and tired in the stretch to check in third. One start later, she easily posted a repeat win in the Bayakoa Stakes back at Del Mar, winning by 6 ½ lengths at the 2-5 favorite.

Hope Road is trained by Bob Baffert. She was bred in Kentucky by the sire Quality Road out of the mare Marley's Freedom by Blame.