ARCADIA, Calif. – More than 35 years after he began his legendary career, jockey Frankie Dettori showed Sunday there are still milestones to achieve. Dettori, 53, won the 1 1/4-mile Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap for the first time aboard Newgate after a thrilling duel with Subsanador. Dettori first saw the Big Cap as a teenager in the late 1980s, the days in which he exercised horses in Southern California and rode sparingly before his career soared to worldwide fame beginning in the 1990s. At the time, the Big Cap was the big race on the late winter national calendar, long before more lucrative races such as the Pegasus World Cup was launched in Florida, and international races such as the Dubai World Cup and Saudi Cup lured American-based runners abroad. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Dettori was at Santa Anita when Alysheba beat Ferdinand in 1988 in the $1 million Big Cap as part of his Horse of the Year season. Ferdinand was the 1987 Horse of the Year. “I was in awe of this race,” Dettori said Sunday. “There were 60,000 people here. You couldn’t move. “To ride this for the first time last year was a dream. To win it, I couldn’t ask for anymore. This is a big feather in my cap. It didn’t get bigger than this growing up. “We have hundreds of million dollar races now around the world, but back in the day this was the race.” Financial pressure at Santa Anita has led to a purse cut of the Big Cap over the years. The race has not had a $1 million purse since 2016. This year’s running did not include National Treasure, who won the Pegasus World Cup in January, or American-based runners such as Senor Buscador or White Abarrio, who finished first and 10th in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 24. Last November, White Abarrio and Senor Buscador were first and seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Newgate was supposed to be Dettori’s leading Triple Crown hope of 2023 until the colt was sidelined by injury. The $401,000 Big Cap was Newgate’s first win in 13 months, since the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds, and first win in the third start of his 2024 comeback. Winning trainer Bob Baffert hinted that Newgate could start in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30. Earlier on Sunday’s program, Dettori and Baffert teamed to win the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes with Imagination, who like Newgate is a colt by Into Mischief. Imagination made his stakes debut in the San Felipe at 1 1/16 miles. Even though there were only four runners in the $294,000 San Felipe, Imagination had an eventful trip. Imagination was bumped on the first turn by Scatify, raced eagerly with stablemate Wine Me Up on the backstretch, and prevailed by a head in a duel with that rival through the stretch. “Everything went wrong today,” Dettori said as he walked back to the jockey’s room. “He wasted a lot of energy and still managed to win. He was solid.” Imagination and Wine Me Up are not eligible to start in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs because of the track’s ban of Baffert-trained runners, stemming in part from a positive found after Baffert’s Medina Spirit finished first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. They could run in the Preakness on May 18 at Pimlico. For Dettori, Sunday was the first time in the American portion of his career that he won two graded stakes since the 2018 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs when he prevailed aboard Enable in the BC Turf and Expert Eye in the BC Mile. Baffert had an even better day Sunday, adding a win in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile with Du Jour. Baffert last won three graded stakes on the same day on Dec. 26, 2022, at Santa Anita. Du Jour, co-owned by Baffert’s wife, Jill, and Debbie Lanni, has won three of his last four starts, a span that includes wins in the restricted Wickerr Stakes and Grade 2 Del Mar Mile last summer. Du Jour’s only recent loss was a 10th-place finish in the BC Mile at Santa Anita last November. In the Kilroe Mile, Du Jour closed from sixth in a field of eight to win by two lengths over Easter, winner of two Grade 2 stakes on turf in his two preceding starts. Du Jour was timed in 1:33.95 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 103. The figure was the highest Beyer awarded in a turf race this year, through Sunday. “He’s a different horse since Del Mar,” Baffert said. “He’s blossomed. “We took a crack at the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a different beast. Today, the way he was training, I thought he’d run well.” Baffert indicated Du Jour will be run sparingly in coming months. The next major turf race for the division is the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on May 27. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.