Combatant pulls an upset in Santa Anita Handicap

ARCADIA, Calif. – It pays to have a deep bench of top-class older horses.

When Gift Box, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap last April, was scratched from this year’s Big Cap on Saturday because of concern over an ankle, owners Pete and Kosta Hronis and John Sadler had a back-up runner with the 5-year-old Combatant.

When entries were published on Wednesday, Combatant looked like an outsider whose best chance was a placing behind Gift Box or Midcourt, the winner of the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Feb. 1.

At the top of the stretch of Saturday’s $601,000 Big Cap, Combatant rallied wide to pass 3-5 Midcourt en route to an upset win. Combatant won his first stakes in the Big Cap.

“I put him in as an insurance policy,” Sadler said. “We wanted to run Gift Box. We have several horses in this division.”

The win gave Sadler and Hronis Racing an unprecedented third consecutive win in the Big Cap with three different horses. They won the 2018 running with Accelerate. Their stable also includes Higher Power, who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic here in November.

Combatant ($21.20) ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:02.32 in the Big Cap, the top race for older horses at the winter-spring meeting.

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Combatant, who carried 118 pounds, was ridden by Joel Rosario, who was booked to ride Gift Box. When the scratch occurred, Rosario replaced Umberto Rispoli on Combatant. Rispoli was compensated with a jockey’s mount of $36,000, equal to Rosario’s earnings, Sadler said.

Rosario had Combatant in fourth for the first mile, racing about two lengths behind pacesetter Brown Storm, who set fractions of 23.66 seconds for an opening quarter-mile and 47.87 for the half. Combatant raced three wide on the backstretch and was four wide into the stretch when he swept to the front.

“He was going good,” Rosario said. “After I made the lead, I had to keep him busy. He was waiting a little bit.”

Combatant drifted to the inside in the final strides, and finished a neck in front of 33-1 Multiplier, who was a half-length in front of Midcourt, the 123-pound starting topweight.

Brown Storm finished fourth, followed by Endorsed, Hofburg, and Two Thirty Five.

Multiplier was fifth early and rallied wide on the inside under jockey Tyler Gaffalione through the stretch. Multiplier finished alongside Midcourt with Combatant widest of all.

“He put up a good performance,” Gaffalione said of Multiplier. “I didn’t see that horse on the outside.”

Midcourt was well-positioned throughout, stalking Brown Storm. He disputed the lead in early stretch, but could not sustain the effort.

“It looked like he was in a good spot,” trainer John Shirreffs said.

Combatant, a ridgling by Scat Daddy, has won four of 24 starts and earned $1,032,498. Combatant was fourth in the 2018 Arkansas Derby and 18th in the Kentucky Derby, behind Justify, in his only previous starts in Grade 1 races. At the time, Combatant was trained by Steve Asmussen.

Combatant was purchased for $220,000 at the Keeneland November Sale last fall by David Ingordo on behalf of Hronis Racing. Combatant was third, beaten 5 3/4 lengths by Midcourt, in the San Pasqual Stakes, his first start for Hronis Racing and Sadler.

“He was a good third in the prep,” Sadler said. “He trained very well and he looks like he has no distance limitations. I thought it was a good chance to try it.”