Leading Triple Crown contender Dortmund had to fight hard to keep his unbeaten record intact in the G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Martin Garcia was aboard the undefeated 3-year-old son of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Kaleem Shah.

Dortmund, the 3-5 favorite, posted his fourth win in as many starts when he beat Firing Line, ridden by Gary Stevens in his bid for his 5000th career win.

Rock Shandy a distant third in the field of five sophomores.

Baffert won the Lewis for a record sixth time..

"He was pretty sharp," Baffert said of Dortmund. "I had this race pencilled in and I wanted him to run well so maybe I could skip other races and wait for the Santa Anita Derby."

The $1 million Santa Anita Derby, one of the key lead-ups to the Kentucky Derby, will be run on April 4.

It was the second straight race in which the imposing Dortmund denied an unlucky Firing Line, who was also a head shy in the G1 Los Alamitos Futurity in their first clash in December.

"It looked like that horse was going to go by him, but then he's such a fighter, he just kicked in," Baffert said.

"You really don't know about these horses until you put them in that scenario, and that's twice now that he just fought and came on to win like that. That was him."

"He's a really good horse," said Garcia. "He's just a big baby, he's still learning. Firing Line gave us pressure, but my horse just took off again."

Stevens was disappointed his milestone win had escaped him.

"I saw that Martin was asking his horse and he wasn't getting any response and I was sitting there with a lot of horse. II thought we buried the one we had to beat and then I saw the shadow coming back at me,” Stevens said.

“One thing for sure is he's a very good horse and he got beat by a very good one."

Eclipse Award champion Big Brown stands at New York's Dutchess Views Farm in 2015 after previously shuttling between Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky and Vinery Australia.