ARCADIA — The sun had to work harder to keep up with John Velazquez on Sunday. Otherwise, his new coast was as clear as his old one.

Velazquez began his first fulltime Santa Anita meet with a come-from-behind win on Blackadder, a 2–year-old maiden.

“That’s the first time I ever won the first race of the meet,” trainer Bob Baffert said.

Then Velazquez finished third on Sumo in race 2. Then he won the third race on California Kook. Then he won race 4 for Baffert, on Shaaz.

The San Antonio Stakes was next, and Velasquez had Eight Rings on the lead going into the stretch, just ahead of Hot Rod Charlie, the 2-to-5 favorite.

But Victor Espinoza was busy lighting a fire under Express Train, who charged from the outside and won by a nose. Hot Rod Charlie was second and Eight Rings third.

And in the eighth, the La Brea Stakes, Velazquez rode Kalypso, Baffert’s second-most prized filly behind Private Mission. Velazquez took Kalypso out gingerly and then powered her down the stretch to win by nearly five lengths, at 9-to-1.

“We knew there was speed in the race and we knew she (Kalypso) had speed, but we didn’t want to get involved in a duel,” Velazquez said. “I got on her a little bit at the three-eighths pole and she bit into the bridle. After that it was pretty easy.”

“He just got her to relax,” Baffert said. “She always wanted to go too fast, but she was one happy filly today.”

But even though Velazquez wound up with four wins, a second and two thirds, Espinoza wasn’t trading his day for anybody’s.

In his mile and one-sixteenth trip, he had to find lanes that weren’t there and got to the outside just at the top of the backstretch.

“From there you try to calculate what it’s going to take,” Espinoza said. “I just made it. I was only going to win it right at the wire. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t.”

Express Train appeared to be a Triple Crown-caliber horse as a 2-year-old but took a bad loss in the American Pharoah Stakes, and trainer John Shirreffs started him over. This was his fifth win and his first at Santa Anita since Jan. 30, when he took the San Pasqual.

His last win anywhere was at Del Mar in the San Diego Handicap on July 17. This was also his 10th consecutive appearance in a Grade 1 or 2 stakes race, and maybe the bettors had gotten weary of him. He was 7-to-1 at post time.

Espinoza never had raced him before, but he and Shirreffs have shared a few winner’s circles together. They teamed up to win the 2017 Santa Anita Derby with Gormley, and won the Robert Lewis Stakes with Uncle Mo. In 2020 they won the San Pasqual with Midcourt.

“We’ve had a lot of luck together,” said Shirreffs, who had about 25 minutes to savor this one. He saddled up favorite Beyond Brilliant in the Mathis Mile, and watched her get nosed out by Law Professor, trained by Michael McCarthy, in a drag race down the stretch.

“John just gives you confidence,” Espinoza said. “I worked this horse a couple of times, and I could see he was getting this horse ready for this race real nice.”

Espinoza sensed Express Train didn’t exactly corner like a sports car. “I had to really start pedaling to follow the other horses,” he said.

But when Express Train broke free, he lived up to his name, and so did the eventual runner-up, who had earned his favored status by finishing second to Essential Quality in the Belmont Stakes and fourth in the Breeders Cup Classic.

“We got beat a bob,” said Doug O’Neill, Hot Rod Charlie’s trainer. “He ran great. We’re very optimistic about the next year with him.”

Velazquez finished fourth on Triple Tap in the Malibu Stakes, as Flightline again brought social distancing to thoroughbred racing. Flightline’s 11 ½-length blowout in the 7-furlong Malibu raised his total cushion to 37 ½ lengths in three wins.

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“This is like being the high school coach for LeBron James,” said John Sadler, Flightline’s trainer. “He is much the best. You just don’t want to screw it up.”

The final snap of the first day of Velazquez’s West Coast offense was a second-place finish on Nicest.

Eight races, seven tickets you could cash.

“He’s like Tom Brady,” Baffert said. “He’s a lot wiser. He doesn’t panic. It didn’t matter what else happened. He just rides his horse.”

The time difference is the only difference. Velazquez will ride as many as he wants.