Baltas, Baffert keys to Friday optional-claiming races

ARCADIA, Calif. – It is a Southern California rarity for a race card to include more than one main-track allowance or optional claimer, so it’s news on Friday when Santa Anita actually runs two.

A pair of races on dirt share the feature-race spotlight as Santa Anita resumes racing for a scheduled three-day week. Race 3 is an entry-level mile for fillies and mares; race 7 is a second-level optional-claiming sprint open to either gender.

Richard Baltas, the most active trainer at the meet with 32 starters (six wins), entered Velvet Queen and Amatara in the filly-mare dirt route, a race typically run once a month in Southern California, with calculable results. The last five winners paid $6.80 or less.

Front-runner Velvet Queen will benefit by a speed-friendly track profile – six of the first 10 route winners at the meet set the pace, two others rallied from second. Velvet Queen, up in class after back-to-back front-running wins, is likely to make the lead under Rafael Bejarano.

The second Baltas starter Amatara enters with an effective combination of early pace and high figures. Amatara misfired last out on a track rated good at Los Alamitos, but she returned to work well on a fast surface at Santa Anita. Her maiden win two back at Santa Anita earned the top dirt figure in the Friday field.

Mario Gutierrez rides Amatara, who is likely to tuck into a perfect trip sitting second behind the speed. Amatara is the most likely winner. The others in the five-runner field are Persepolis, Pink Scatillac, and Miss Fia.

Bob Baffert holds the key in race 7. The meet’s leading trainer with seven wins from 20 starters, Baffert entered potential lone speed McKale in the two-other-than allowance/optional-claiming sprint, which has been run only four times in Southern California since July.

The shortage of sprinters eligible to the condition or willing to enter for the optional $62,500 claim tag is why average field size for the level is 4.75 horses per race. By that measure, the Friday sprint drew a big field with six entered.

Pace is a key factor in the 6 1/2-furlong race, as McKale looks like the lone speed. He has not started since September, but the layoff is not as much of a concern for Baffert as post.

“He’s doing well, but the one-hole . . . I wish he was outside,” Baffert said. “He has to get away.”

If he gets away, McKale figures make the lead under Drayden Van Dyke. The 5-year-old gelding could be long gone, although pacesetters have won only one of the first eight races this winter at the distance.

The field also includes sharp Royal Trump, Oiseau de Guerre, Seven Scents, Manhattan Up, and Pepe Tono.