Big City Lights, after allowance victory, will run in Thor's Echo
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ARCADIA, Calif. - Big City Lights returned from a layoff of more than five months to win a seven-furlong allowance race at Santa Anita on Saturday.
The 7-year-old horse showed enough for trainer Richard Mandella to plan a start in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes for statebreds at six furlongs on May 23.
Ridden by Kazushi Kimura, who had four winners on the 11-race program, Big City Lights was third on the backstretch before moving closer to the front on the turn. Big City Lights, the 4-5 favorite, fought through the stretch to win by a half-length over Speedy Wilson.
“He ran great. I think he got a little tired,” Mandella said. “I think he probably needed the race.”
Owned by Bill Peeples, Big City Lights has won 8 of 16 starts and $651,960. He has won five stakes since his career began in spring 2021.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said on Sunday that the Thor’s Echo’s is a likely spot for Speedy Wilson.
The race may also draw Lovesick Blues, winner of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar last July, and Man O Rose, a six-time stakes winner since September 2024.
The Mandella-trained Subsanador finished fourth in the $200,000 Lake Ouachita Stakes at a mile at Oaklawn Park on Saturday after a poor start, his second loss since returning from an 18-month layoff earlier this spring.
Subsanador was beaten eight lengths by Willy D’s in the Lake Ouachita after racing as close as third in the stretch.
“When he broke from the gate, he knuckled over and burned the skin off the front of his ankle,” Mandella said.
“We’ll get him home and regroup. I think he’s fine.”
Mandella said the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on May 25 is a possibility for Subsanador, who won the Grade 1, $1 million California Crown at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita in September 2024.
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