Charlatan, Great Power looking to step forward in allowance

Charlatan and Great Power, two of the best-regarded 3-year-olds in Southern California, both got late starts toward the Kentucky Derby, but will try to quickly move forward on Saturday when they race in a one-mile allowance at Santa Anita designed to propel them toward a significant Derby prep in April.

For Charlatan, the playbook looks familiar. He has many of the same connections – owners and trainer – as Justify, the 2018 Triple Crown winner, who won his debut in February, then captured a one-mile allowance race before going on to victories in the Santa Anita Derby and then the Triple Crown.

Justify got a Beyer Speed Figure of 104 going seven furlongs on Feb. 18, 2018. Charlatan got a Beyer figure of 105 going six furlongs on Feb. 16. Justify successfully stretched out for the first time on March 11, 2018, on a muddy, sealed track. Charlatan, a son of Speightstown, goes two turns for the first time on March 14 on what likely will be an off track, owing to the forecast.

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In both cases, Santa Anita’s racing office had to do quite a bit of hustling to make the races go, understanding the long-term importance of moving these horses along by mid-March.

“It’s all about, will the party continue?” Bob Baffert, who trains Charlatan, said Thursday morning. “We’ll know more after this. We’ll know if he can go two turns. It’s a tough race.”

Great Power is the most prominent of the five horses lined up inside Charlatan, who drew the outside post. Great Power, by Blame, ran to notices in his debut last Sept. 29 at Santa Anita, beating a good group of maidens as the odds-on favorite while recording a solid Beyer Figure of 88 going 6 1/2 furlongs. Flavien Prat, who rode him first time out, is back aboard.

“He’s come back really well. I’m really happy with him,” said Simon Callaghan, who trains Great Power. “We’ve been on a tight schedule. This is a good place to get started and hope it sets him up for something. There’s a lot of speed in there. We just want to get a race into him. I’d like to see him run a little at the end.”

Of the remaining runners, Silent Fury should at the least be prominent early, having defeated maidens sprinting Jan. 26 with an 86 Beyer.

This race is the sixth on the eight-race card, a half-hour prior to the day’s feature, the Grade 1 Beholder Mile.

McAnally savors win

Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally was delighted with the victory last Saturday of his homebred filly She’s Our Charm, a daughter of Candy Ride who won a first-level turf allowance for her second win in four starts.

She’s Our Charm was bred by McAnally and his wife, Debbie, and races in Debbie’s name.

“She’s a nice filly. We’ve always had confidence in her,” said McAnally, 87, who praised his longtime assistant Dan Landers.

“He works his butt off,” McAnally said.

◗ Two turf sprint stakes originally scheduled for this weekend, the Grade 3 San Simeon for older runners and the Irish O’Brien for California-bred females, both have been postponed owing to the weather forecast, with the San Simeon now slotted for March 21, the Irish O’Brien March 22.