California Distaff Handicap, pick six payout highlight Saturday card

ARCADIA, Calif. – The storylines Saturday at Santa Anita begin clear enough – California-bred stakes females on the hill, and maidens in the mandatory-payout pick six.

What is less clear is how the stories will end.

Leggs Galore enters the $100,000 California Distaff Handicap as the lone front-runner, but she would be the first at the autumn meet to win a hillside turf sprint after leading at every call. Pacesetters are 0 for 9 on the hill.

Gobbledygook? Perhaps.

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Leggs Galore, a six-time stakes winner scheduled to be sold at auction next month, should be favored in the California Distaff, race 3. Her rivals include stakes winner Eddie’s New Dream, horse-for-course Kleen Karma, and Harper’s Gallop. Leggs Galore is trained by Phil D’Amato, who also entered Rose Dawson.

With just five entered, the California Distaff is not the most compelling race of the meet. The same applies to the pick six. The sequence comprises low-level races – four maiden-claiming races and two claiming-caliber turf routes.

The pick six, on races 5-10, begins with a $266,212 jackpot and is virtually certain to attract more than $1 million in new money.

As for the Saturday feature, it may be the swan song for Leggs Galore, a 5-year-old mare owned and bred by Jack Sims. Leggs Galore is entered in the Fasig-Tipton November sale on Nov. 6 in Kentucky with three other female stakes winners also trained by D’Amato – Going Global, Going to Vegas, and Miss Bigly.

D’Amato is confident Leggs Galore can go out a winner in the 6 1/2-furlong race Saturday, despite two recent losses as the favorite in five-furlong turf sprints at Del Mar. She finished second and third, losing each by less than a length.

“She likes that downhill configuration a little more than she likes the five-eighths at Del Mar,” D’Amato said. “You’ll get a lot of horses that are great at five-eighths and don’t do as well at six and a half, and vice-versa. She’s one of those vice-versa horses.”

What she is is a moneymaker. Leggs Galore has won nine races and $674,548 from 17 starts. Her six stakes victories include both starts this year on the hill. Ricky Gonzalez rides Leggs Galore, who should be loose on the lead over a course that is due for a front-running winner.

“She’s ready to run her ‘A’ race,” D’Amato said.

Hillside stakes winner Eddie’s New Dream looks like the second choice as she drops in class and shortens up for trainer Ben Cecil. She has won five races and $425,600 from 18 starts, and won a hillside stakes in March.

The pick six begins two races after the feature.

Race 5 is a $50,000 maiden-claiming sprint for California-bred 2-year-olds, led by Reef City. He finished fourth last out after being knocked sideways at the break, rallying wide and finishing well. He galloped out with run, and benefits by the additional half-furlong of this six-furlong race. His rivals include last-out runner-up King Zog and Reign of Speed.

Race 6 is a $50,000 maiden-claiming turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up. Also-eligible Law Abiding would merit horse-to-beat status dropping in class. Contenders in the six-furlong race include return-to-turf An Army of Light, second-timer U R Pressed, dropper Conch Daddy, and first-off-the-claim surface- and distance-switcher Midnight Majesty.

Race 7 is a grim $20,000 maiden-claiming mile for fillies and mares. Top contenders include class-drop stretch-out Kitten Calls, first-off-the-claim Trojan Way, and stretch-out Charlotte Harbor.

Race 8 is a $25,000 claiming turf mile for fillies and mares, and the replay of last-out winner Feathers is worth viewing. Blocked from the three-eighths to the eighth pole, she surged late to defeat similar. She can win right back over Gallovie and Novella.

Race 9 is a $40,000 maiden-claiming sprint for 2-year-old fillies in which second-time starter Modera is a contender along with firster Bruins Mastery, second-start dropper Hialeah Hottie, and La Paloma Blanca.

Race 10 is a starter allowance turf mile for fillies and mares, nonwinners of two. Contenders include Dolly May, School Dance, Witch Moon, Ropers N Wranglers, and In Your Face.

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