Santa Anita notes: Santa Margarita goal for More Chocolate

Shigeki Kikkawa

More Chocolate will skip the Santa Maria Stakes and point toward the Santa Margarita Stakes on March 16.

More Chocolate, upset winner of the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes on Sunday, will start in the $300,000 Santa Margarita Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on March 16, trainer John Sadler said. He plans to skip the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes on Feb. 16 to have More Chocolate ready for the richest race of the meeting for older females.

“She’s already run twice at the meeting,” Sadler said. “I want to try her at a mile and an eighth.”

Owned by Michael Talla, More Chocolate was third in the Grade 3 Robert Frankel Stakes on turf Dec. 30 in her stakes debut. In the La Canada Stakes over 1 1/16 miles, she was forwardly placed throughout under jockey Garrett Gomez and pulled clear in the stretch to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

Sadler has three for Saturday stakes

Sadler could have a big day Saturday when six stakes are run at Santa Anita.

He starts Monument in the $300,000 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes for 3-year-old statebreds over a mile. Owned by CRK Racing, Monument won the California Cup Juvenile here in October.

The field for the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes also will include Weewinnin, who won the King Glorious Stakes by a half-length in a 60-1 upset at Betfair Hollywood Park on Dec. 16. Monument was third in that race as the 2-1 favorite.

In the $250,000 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares over seven furlongs, Sadler will start the outsider Journaliste, a 5-year-old Argentine-bred mare who was fourth in her U.S. debut in the Cool Air Stakes on turf at Hollywood Park on Nov. 23.

The Cool Air Stakes was won by Kindle, who returned to finish a game second to Mizdirection in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes on Jan. 6. Kindle is a contender for the Grade 2 Santa Monica, along with Distracting, Nechez Dawn, Rumor, and Teddy’s Promise, the likely favorite.

Teddy’s Promise, trained by Ron Ellis, was an easy winner of the Kalookan Queen Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on a wet-fast track Dec. 29.

The other stakes on Saturday’s program are the $300,000 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes for 3-year-old statebred fillies, the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over 1 1/16 miles, and two $100,000 stakes for California-breds on turf – the Valentine Dancer for females over a mile and the Crystal Water Stakes over 1 1/8 miles.

Sadler starts the two-time stakes winner Stoney Fleece in the Crystal Water.