ARCADIA, Calif. – A Grade 2 stakes Monday on the hillside course at Santa Anita would provide an ideal middle ground for a pair of turf specialists whose running styles are as different as their upcoming campaigns. However, little is ideal about the first weekend of the winter meet. A punishing storm has already forced a two-day postponement of the opening-day card and threatens conditions of the Joe Hernandez Stakes that was rescheduled for Monday. Late-running sprinter Motorious and front-running miler El Potente are entered in the $200,000 Hernandez, scheduled for 6 1/2 furlongs on the hill. If the rain lets up and the course is usable, the Hernandez would be a neat showdown. It might be anyway. Motorious is a high-class turf sprinter whose 2026 objectives include a $1.5 million turf sprint in late March in Dubai. El Potente is a fast turf miler whose 2026 objective is the recently downgraded Grade 2 Frank E. Kilroe Mile in early March at Santa Anita. Fifteen are entered in the Hernandez, 10 in the body and five on the also-eligible list. The field is subject to change pending course (hill, main oval, or dirt) and condition. Imagination, the Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, has never raced on turf. Stakes-winning hillside specialist First Peace is stuck on the also-eligible list. Stakes winner Unconquerable Keen prefers the main oval. Flyover is on his way up the class ladder, and Sumter missed by a head in the 2024 Hernandez. :: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more. The horse to beat is Motorious, the Phil D’Amato trainee whose 2024 Hernandez win was his fourth hillside victory. Six and half furlongs is perfect for the late-runner who finished second in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint but was luckless finishing fifth in the BC this year. “We got lucky with the trip the year before,” D’Amato said. “This year, I just hated the trip. We used our horse to get in a spot and then didn’t use him to stay in there. It was just a disaster. I don’t think anyone was going to beat the winner, but with an ideal trip maybe we run second.” Motorious, 10 for 24, will rally under Antonio Fresu. After this weekend, D’Amato said “more than likely we will try to devise a plan to get him to Dubai.” The $1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint would be D’Amato’s first Dubai starter. Motorious might have to catch El Potente, who has never raced on the hill. Front-running milers generally run well on the hill, and El Potente would be backing up from a respectable third-place comeback racing 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit at Del Mar. “I think a mile is his best distance,” trainer Dan Blacker said, “but we’ve never tried him down the hill.” Blacker dubbed El Potente “50-50” to start in the Hernandez. “It’s possible we just wait for the Thunder Road,” a turf mile on Feb. 7, Blacker said. Hector Berrios is named on El Potente, who won the Thunder Road last year in 1:32.39. He has won 6 of 15 starts. Flyover, an improving California-bred trained by John Sadler, is moving up following back-to-back allowance wins at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar. “He’s getting better all the time,” Sadler said. Tyler Baze is listed as alternate rider on Flyover, who has won 4 of 7. Juan Hernandez is 3 for 3 on Flyover but is named to ride Imagination. Imagination is the fastest Hernandez entrant based on his dirt form. He earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure finishing second last out in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and a 97 winning the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship in fall. Bob Baffert trains Imagination. First Peace won the Grade 2 Eddie D on the hill in 2024 and had excuses for two misfires following an extended layoff. Five furlongs was too short in his comeback, and trainer Mark Glatt said he was compromised by foot issues when next to last in his most recent start in September. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “Here of late, he’s trained very well and I would expect him to be back to his old self,” Glatt said. Can the 5-year-old be as good as he was in 2024? “No reason to think he won’t, other than getting a little bit of age on him,” Glatt said. Others in the body of the race include Zio Jo, Sorrento Sky, Yellow Card, Unconquerable Keen, Gas Me Up, and Sumter. The also-eligible list includes Awesome Rhythm, Schwarzmeier, Feel the Magic, and Son of a Birch. The Hernandez is race 7 on a nine-race Monday card. The $100,000 Blue Norther Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, including Latte Luv, is race 3. Santa Anita is dark Tuesday with racing scheduled to resume Wednesday with two turf stakes – the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel for fillies and mares and $100,000 Eddie Logan for 2-year-olds. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.