Dettori to return to Santa Anita for stakes-packed Memorial Day card

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Frankie Dettori, who was based in Southern California earlier this year, will be back at Santa Anita for the first time since late April to ride the stakes-packed May 27 Memorial Day program.

It may be one of Dettori’s few appearances in Southern California in coming months. In the second half of the summer, Dettori will be based at Saratoga, according to his agent, Ron Anderson.

Dettori is booked on three mounts at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

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Among his mounts on May 27, Dettori is booked to ride Judge Miller in the Grade 2 Hollywood Gold Cup and Funtastic Again in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf.

With Judge Miller, Dettori has a mount on a colt who was second at 3-10 in the Grade 3 Californian Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on April 20 in his stakes debut. Judge Miller set the pace and was beaten by 2 1/4 lengths by Mr Fisk, another Gold Cup candidate.

Dettori, who won six races at Santa Anita on April 6, knows Judge Miller, having ridden the 4-year-old colt to an 11-length win in an allowance race at a mile on Feb. 24.

On Monday, Judge Miller worked five furlongs in 1:01.60 for trainer Mark Glatt, while Mr Fisk worked five furlongs in 1:00 for trainer Bob Baffert.

The $200,000 Gold Cup is run at 1 1/4 miles, and is one of three major stakes on the May 27 program along with two Grade 1 turf races worth $300,000 each – the Shoemaker Mile and the Gamely Stakes at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares.

The Gamely Stakes will be the 2024 debut of Anisette, who has not raced since a win in the Grade 1 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles on turf last December.

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday that he is likely to have two runners in the Gamely in Linda’s Gift, who has won three consecutive stakes for fillies and mares since late November, and Ruby Nell, who has won four stakes since last October.

Ruby Nell was also considered for the Shoemaker, but Mandella said the 4-year-old filly is “more likely” to start in the Gamely. She will play an important role as a potential pacesetter.

On Monday, Ruby Nell worked five furlongs in 1:00.40.

Funtastic Again is one of two runners in the Shoemaker field trained by Wesley Ward, who also plans to start Dominican Pioneer. Kazushi Kimura is booked to travel from Woodbine to ride Dominican Pioneer, Ward said.

The Gold Cup or the Shoemaker are options for There Goes Harvard, a 6-year-old horse won the 2022 Hollywood Gold Cup when the race had Grade 1 status and was worth $400,000.

Trained by Michael McCarthy, There Goes Harvard has started only three times since the 2022 Gold Cup, plagued by setbacks such as a severe illness. He has not raced since a fifth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March 2023.

There are 10 stakes at Santa Anita from Saturday through May 27. On Saturday, five stakes are scheduled for California-breds, including the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes at six furlongs that is expected to draw The Chosen Vron, the 2023 California-bred Horse of the Year.

Adare Manor, winner of the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 13, will be a short-priced favorite to win her seventh stakes in the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares, the highlight of Sunday’s program.

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