Aligato stretches out as unreliable likely favorite

ARCADIA, Calif. – Given the high percent of winning favorites in Santa Anita turf routes this winter, perhaps veteran gelding Aligato will score an overdue victory in Friday’s featured seventh race.

The role of favorite is familiar for Aligato, a consistent late-runner whose most recent win was two years ago in a $200,000 California-bred stakes. Aligato ran well 10 subsequent starts following that victory, but his rally always fell short, including three misses as the favorite.

Friday, the parimutuel pressure is on again. The 7-year-old Aligato is expected to start favored in an entry-level allowance at 1 1/4 miles on turf. Based on a strong third last month in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic, the stakes he won in 2022, Aligato looks tough to beat.

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“I hope so, he deserves a win,” trainer Mark Glatt said. “He runs so hard every time, and hasn’t quite been able to get there.”

Aligato has hit the board in his last eight starts.

The best horse in the 11-runner field, Aligato will race over a course that is curiously predictable this winter. Through Sunday, turf-route favorites have won 26 of 52 races, a 50 percent rate that would have produced a flat profit on win bets ($123 return, $104 wagered).

Flavien Prat rides Aligato, who comes off one of the best races of his career. While the winner, Kings River Knight, led gate to wire on comfortable fractions, Aligato rallied from last, smoked his final three-eighths in 34.98, and finished third by a half-length.

Aligato stretches out in distance, having not gone longer than 1 1/8 miles since March of last year. “A mile and an eighth to a mile and quarter is just fine for him,” Glatt said. Aligato has won two races and $336,520 from 15 starts for Double L Racing owners Lucy Lawrence and Bob Liewald.

The entry-level allowance has an optional $50,000 claiming provision, which suits Heywoods Beach. A two-time Grade 3 marathon winner, the 7-year-old entered for the $50,000 claiming price for Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler. But the most important entrant is the likely pacesetter.

Calm Sea is expected to make the lead following a third-place finish at one mile. He set the pace to deep stretch, and missed by a length. At the longer distance Friday, Calm Sea and jockey Kyle Frey could be loose on the lead. Contenders also include Sbagliato, a troubled sixth in his local debut, and last-out runner-up Maltese Falcon.

The entry-level allowance is the middle leg of the $3 all-turf pick three (races 5, 7, and 9) which ends with a competitive allowance turf sprint for California-bred 3-year-old fillies. Quick Kate shortens to six furlongs after winning a maiden turf mile.

“I’d rather run her long, but I think her first race indicates that she can sprint,” trainer Craig Lewis said.

Quick Kate, by Clubhouse Ride, missed by a nose in her debut at five furlongs, then won next out at a mile.

Her rivals include debut winner The Shushala, stakes-placed Prancingthruparis, and speedster Clubhouse Bride, one of four in the field sired by Clubhouse Ride.

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