Ashleyluvssugar tops probables for California Cup Classic

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ashleyluvssugar, a winner of two Grade 2 turf stakes in 2016, will be a strong favorite to win his fifth stakes in the $250,000 California Cup Classic for statebreds at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Jan. 28.

Trained by Peter Eurton for the partnership of Sharon Alesia, Joe Ciaglia, and Bran Jam Racing, Ashleyluvssugar was second in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 25 and has been trained in recent months with the Cal Cup Classic as a first target for 2017.

Ashleyluvssugar won consecutive Grade 2 stakes in the Del Mar Handicap in August and the John Henry Turf Championship here in October prior to finishing fifth in the $3,681,380 Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 5, the richest turf race in the United States.

Ashleyluvssugar, 6, has won 8 of 19 starts and earned $1,007,504.

Flavien Prat will have the mount on Ashleyluvssugar, replacing Gary Stevens, who underwent a hip-replacement operation last month.

Ashleyluvssugar is expected to face Grade 1 winner What a View, who won the 2016 Cal Cup Classic. What a View later won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile last March and the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes last April but is winless in his last three starts. Trained by Kenny Black, What a View was sixth in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar on Nov. 26.

The Cal Cup Classic field will not include Alert Bay, the 6-year-old gelding who won the race in 2015 and was second last year. Trainer Blaine Wright said on Friday that Alert Bay is galloping at Golden Gate Fields for a scheduled comeback in the spring.

Alert Bay was fourth in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs last August and was given a rest in the fall.

“We had a horse that wasn’t as sharp as he needed to be in the summer months,” Wright said. “We gave him an extended break. He’s been back for three weeks.”

The California Cup Classic is among five six-figure stakes for Cal-breds on the Jan. 28 program.

The stakes winners Ann Arbor Eddie and California Diamond are the leading contenders in the $250,000 California Cup Derby at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Ann Arbor Eddie and California Diamond were first and second in the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes at a mile at Los Alamitos on Dec. 18.

The other stakes are the $200,000 California Cup Oaks for 3-year-olds fillies at a mile on turf, the $150,000 California Cup Sprint at six furlongs, and the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course.

The California Cup Oaks nominees are led by the unbeaten Sircat Sally, who won the Soviet Problem Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 17. The multiple stakes winner Enola Gray is scheduled to start in the Filly and Mare Turf Sprint.

Magic Mark, a two-time stakes winner, is among the nominees for the Cal Cup Sprint.