Californian might have major impact on local handicap division

ARCADIA, Calif. – A setback to the top handicap runner in the West adds significance to the Grade 2 Californian Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita and offers its five entrants a clear path to the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on May 31 at Santa Anita.

Though a training interruption may only be a minor hiccup for division leader and Santa Anita Handicap winner Idol, his setback boosts the relevance of the Californian, a 1 1/8-mile race that attracted a modest field.

:: Get Brad Free’s Betting Strategies for Saturday’s card at Santa Anita

Independence Hall is the likely favorite, though he is 0 for 4 around two turns. Royal Ship has improved since being gelded, but the South American import’s best finish in four U.S. starts is third. Magic On Tap won an entry-level allowance last out; graded winner Country Grammer makes his first start since August; Growth Engine adds blinkers.

While the local field is unassuming, an early Gold Cup favorite runs Saturday in Arkansas. California-based Express Train, runner-up to Idol in the March 6 Big Cap, is favored to win the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap.

As for Idol, he is not ruled out of the Gold Cup, the next local Grade 1, but his status for the race is uncertain after coming out of an April 4 work “stiff behind,” trainer Richard Baltas said.

Baltas said Idol “was not 100 percent behind after that last work, and I backed off him a little bit.”

“I want to give him a 30-day rest,” he said. “He might make it, but I don’t want to push him. If I have to wait until Del Mar to run him, I’ll wait.”

The setback is not believed serious, and the year-end objective for Idol is unchanged.

“My goal is to get him to the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Baltas said. “He’s going to be fine. I don’t think he needs to be turned out.”

What is needed is for a shallow handicap division to expand. It could happen in the $200,000 Californian, race 8 on Saturday. The race shares billing with the $75,000 Mizdirection Stakes for fillies and mares, race 5. Leggs Galore seeks her sixth straight victory in the Mizdirection, run at six furlongs on turf.

The Californian offers Independence Hall his best chance to win a route. His four wins came going one turn. Is he better running shorter? Not according to trainer Michael McCarthy.

“I don’t get the feeling he’s a one-turn type horse,” McCarthy said, acknowledging that the shorter distance of the Californian could suit him more than the 1 1/4-mile Big Cap in which he finished fourth.”

Still, McCarthy said, “I don’t think a mile and a quarter is a problem for him.”

McCarthy cited Independence Hall’s reluctance to be rated in the Big Cap as the reason he lost ground late in the race.

“He pulled all the way to the half-mile pole,” he said. “I think he’ll probably get a little bit quicker pace going a mile and an eighth.”

McCarthy’s concern is Independence Hall might prefer other surfaces over Santa Anita. Flavien Prat rides Independence Hall, whose two recent Beyer Speed Figures – 98 finishing fourth in the Big Cap and 104 finishing third in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream – top the field.

Royal Ship looms an upset contender in his second start as a gelding. Trainer Richard Mandella said that since being gelded late last year, Royal Ship “is behaving better.”

“He was nasty in the gate, kind of hard-headed sometimes,” Mandella said.

A Group 1 winner on turf in Brazil, Royal Ship’s only dirt start in the United States was a better-than-looked effort in the Grade 3 Native Diver in November at Del Mar. He broke last, made an extended run into contention on the far turn, then flattened out and finished last of four. Surface was not the issue. The problem was his behavior. Mandella said Royal Ship broke slowly “because he was fighting in the gate.”

:: Enhance your handicapping with DRF’s Santa Anita Clocker Report

Last out, Royal Ship finished fifth, beaten a length, in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile here. He will be ridden in the Californian by Mike Smith.

Growth Engine adds blinkers, and is likely to utilize his speed from the inside post under Tyler Baze. Trainer John Sadler was hoping for an outside post after Growth Engine was blocked in the stretch of his local debut, the Santana Mile, and finished fifth.

“He’s got a high cruising speed,” Sadler said. “I don’t really want him behind horses, backed up.”

Bob Baffert starts Magic On Tap, a sharp comeback winner of an entry-level allowance, and Country Grammer, purchased for $110,000 at a dispersal sale in January. Country Grammer won the Grade 3 Peter Pan last summer at Saratoga.

◗ Earlier on Saturday, Leggs Galore seeks her third straight stakes win in the Mizdirection. Owned by breeder Jack Sims, Leggs Galore is trained by Phil D’Amato.

“The plan is this race, then the Monrovia,” D’Amato said.

The Grade 2 Monrovia will be run June 5.

The others in the Mizdirection field are restricted stakes winner Superstition, deep closer Constantia, front-runners Biddy Duke and Annangel, and comebacker She’s So Special.