Closing Remarks on verge of graded score in Royal Heroine

ARCADIA, Calif. – Joe Bravo speaks fondly about Closing Remarks, the veteran turf mare he rides Saturday for trainer Carla Gaines and owner-breeder John Harris in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita.

“She wins and she gets beat, but she’s always right there,” Bravo said. “She’s going to go out there and give you what she has every time. You gotta love a horse like that. She’s an owner’s kind of dream.”

Her last trip was a nightmare. Closing Remarks was stopped cold into the far turn of a Grade 2 mile, hit the rail, regained her stride, rallied wide, smoked her final quarter in 23.88 seconds, and finished third by 1 1/2 lengths. Closing Remarks was best, which is like saying sugar is sweet.

Closing Remarks and Bravo try for a better trip Saturday in the $200,000 Royal Heroine, a turf mile for fillies and mares with six entrants. The others are School Dance, a Grade 1-placed closer; Seisai, a Group 2-placed European making her U.S. debut; Honey Jar, the likely pacesetter; and outsiders Very Scary and Nadette.

Jockeys often get blamed for a bad trip, but Bravo did nothing wrong on Closing Remarks. The mare’s trainer acknowledged as much.

“It wasn’t really [Bravo’s] fault,” Gaines said. “He was breezing along on the rail; he had a lot of horse.”

It was a perfect trip for the first five furlongs. But then pacesetter Kitty Kitana took an awkward step, stopped suddenly, and backed up into Closing Remarks, who steadied sharply.

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“She kind of bounced off the inside fence, then picked herself up after all that, and came flying,” Bravo said.

A 5-year-old California-bred who has placed in seven graded stakes, Closing Remarks is expected to start favored Saturday while seeking her first graded win.

School Dance will try to give trainer Phil D’Amato his third successive Royal Heroine win following Going Global and Charmaine’s Mia. School Dance, runner-up in the American Oaks, finished behind Closing Remarks in her last two starts. D’Amato’s top Royal Heroine nominee, Rhea Moon, had her training interrupted by weather and was not entered.

Seisai makes her U.S. debut for trainer John Sadler and owner Will Farish, who purchased her for a reported $475,199 at a December auction in Europe. Seisai raced at distances longer than a mile last year, but Sadler will begin her campaign in the Royal Heroine.

“She’s done very well, trained willingly,” Sadler said. “Like everybody, she could have run a little earlier, but because of weather, we’ve taken our time. This is a good jumping-off point at a mile, and then we’ll go from there.”

Seisai has won 2 of 14.

◗ Highly regarded 3-year-old maiden Ultimate Gamble, a $1.75 million juvenile purchase, returns Saturday in race 4 at one mile. Mark Glatt trains the Medaglia d’Oro colt for owner Tim Cohen.

Ultimate Gamble finished fourth in his only start last summer, a sprint in which the one-two finishers were subsequent graded winners Cave Rock and Practical Move.

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