Boa Nova must be caught in Thursday allowance

ARCADIA, Calif. – The long-term future for the 3-year-old Boa Nova intrigues trainer Anna Meah as much as his appearance in an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option on turf Thursday at Santa Anita.

“If he stays healthy and sound, he’ll be great at 4 and 5,” she said last weekend.

Boa Nova joined Meah’s stable last fall and has won 2 of 8 starts this year. The wins came in consecutive races at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar – a $40,000 claimer on Aug. 4 and an optional claimer on Aug. 21. He was seventh, beaten three lengths, in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at five furlongs on turf here Sept. 27 in his graded stakes debut.

“He was the only 3-year-old in the race,” Meah said. “That was his best race. He didn’t get beat that far.”

Boa Nova set the pace into the stretch before fading from contention. In Thursday’s race, Boa Nova is likely to lead again, although he could face pressure from Stop the Violence, who drew the outside post in the small field of five.

Owned by Christopher Dunn and Electric City Racing, Boa Nova has not run at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf in this country, but he did win at 5 3/4 furlongs in May 2018 at Bath Racecourse in England, a track with an uphill finish. He has run at five furlongs and 6 1/2 furlongs on turf in this country as well as at 5 1/2 furlongs and six furlongs on the Tapeta at Golden Gate.

In the optional claimer on Aug. 21, Boa Nova led by eight lengths with a furlong remaining and won by three lengths. Boa Nova breaks from the inside post Thursday, and Meah said she expects him to set the pace again.

Stop the Violence, one of two runners in the field trained by Peter Miller, won an optional claimer at five furlongs on turf on Aug. 25 at Del Mar, closing from third in a field of 10. The gelding has won two of his last three starts, all on turf, and has shown the ability to dispute the pace or race from a stalking position.

Stop the Violence has won 3 of 6 starts. He is entered to be claimed for $62,500 on Thursday and will be ridden by apprentice jockey Jorge Velez, one of the leading riders at the autumn meeting.

Miller also runs Blackout, who was second in an optional claimer on dirt Sept. 6 at Los Alamitos and raced well on turf earlier in the year. A 6-year-old gelding with five wins on turf, Blackout is a threat from off the pace for jockey Abel Cedillo, who was aboard for the Sept. 6 race.

Blackout, eligible to be claimed for $62,500, won a $32,000 claimer on the hillside turf course here last October.