Catalina Cruiser staying home for Pat O'Brien

DEL MAR, Calif. – Catalina Cruiser will remain at Del Mar to defend his title in the Grade 2, $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Saturday, with trainer John Sadler electing that spot instead of the Grade 1 Forego the same day at Saratoga. Both races are at seven furlongs.

Catalina Cruiser most recently won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles here on July 20 for the second straight year. He is 2 for 2 this year. He won the Grade 2 True North at Belmont Park in his first start of the year on June 7. He has four victories in Grade 2 stakes. He was sixth when suffering his only loss in his lone Grade 1 try, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last year at Churchill Downs.

“The first New York trip took a lot out of him. He got hot.” Sadler said. “There were a lot of reasons to go to New York, especially since it’s a Grade 1, but I want to do what’s best for that horse, and for that horse the best thing is to run him in his own backyard.”

The Pat O’Brien, for older horses, is a Win and You’re In toward the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. The Forego is not a Win and You’re In.

Flavien Prat, the meet’s leading rider, will ride Catalina Cruiser for the first time on Saturday. His rivals are expected to include American Anthem, Chief Cicatriz, Giant Expectations, Jalen Journey, and Seven Trumpets, who is scheduled to ship in from Kentucky for trainer Dale Romans.