ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Michael McCarthy achieved his 500th career win at Santa Anita on Thursday with Stark Contrast in the $100,000 Eddie Logan Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf. “I’ll never make it to 1,000,” McCarthy cracked in the winner’s circle. Stark Contrast is the sort of colt who could easily add to McCarthy’s win total in stakes on turf. Owned by John and Jerry Amerman, Stark Contrast won for the third time in five starts in the mile-long Logan Stakes. One of those losses was a troubled second by three-quarters of a length at 58-1 behind Gstaad in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Oct. 31. The slim margin between the two left McCarthy wondering what Stark Contrast could have done with a better journey. “I think it would have been pretty close,” McCarthy said after the Logan. “He definitely would have made it interesting. Gstaad had all the momentum.” :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. Stark Contrast had a flawless trip in the five-runner Logan Stakes. Ridden by Kazushi Kimura, Stark Contrast stalked pacesetter Brigante to early stretch and won by 2 1/4 lengths. He paid a mere $2.60. The race was postponed from late December because of rain. With his win on Thursday, Stark Contrast started his 3-year-old season in a promising manner. “It was a nice spot to come back in,” McCarthy said. Stark Contrast may run in the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes at a mile on turf for 3-year-olds on Feb. 22. In the spring, turf stakes at 1 1/16 miles, such as the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland in April and the Grade 1 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby weekend, could be considered for Stark Contrast. Last year, those races had purses of $600,000 and $1 million, respectively. McCarthy swept the two early winter one-mile turf stakes for foals of 2023 in the opening weeks of the Santa Anita meeting. On Dec. 29, La Ville Lumiere closed from fifth in a field of six to win the Blue Norther Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on turf, her first stakes win in her seventh start. Last fall, La Ville Lumiere was third in the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Santa Anita in October, seventh in the BC Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Oct. 31, and third in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 29. La Ville Lumiere could have her first start of 2026 on either surface. She is scheduled to work this weekend at Santa Anita. “We have a lot of options,” McCarthy said. McCarthy, 54, was a longtime assistant to Ben Cecil and Todd Pletcher before he began training on his own. In 2025, McCarthy had his best year with stable earnings of more than $10.5 million. He won 75 races, nearly equaling a personal best of 78 wins in 2024. Considering those statistics, 1,0000 career wins is actually not a far-fetched goal. Last year, the McCarthy stable was led by the star 3-year-old Journalism, who won the Haskell Invitational, Preakness Stakes, and Santa Anita Derby, and was second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Journalism finished fourth in the BC Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1. He is scheduled to return to McCarthy’s stable at Santa Anita next week. Stark Contrast’s win on Thursday occurred on the one-year anniversary of the devastating wildfires that struck Altadena, not far from Santa Anita, and Pacific Palisades, across Los Angeles near the Pacific Ocean. McCarthy’s Altadena home was spared, but the family was displaced until recent months. “You know people are rebuilding, people are getting back home,” McCarthy said in the winner’s circle on Thursday. “Hopefully, no one ever has to go through what the people of Altadena or the Pacific Palisades went through. Terrible deal, but we’re rebuilding and getting stronger.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.