ARCADIA, Calif. – There is no hiding the solemn truth that faraway riches have drained stature from the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. Perhaps it was unavoidable. Yet even while the $650,000 Big Cap lacks the multi-million-dollar World Cup appeal of Pegasus, Saudi, and Dubai, it does have one virtue other races lack and money cannot buy. The Santa Anita Handicap, run for the first time in 1935, owns a storied tradition. “It’s still a very historic, prestigious race.” trainer John Shirreffs said. “It represents Santa Anita. It represents the best in Southern California racing.” Late Saturday afternoon, Shirreffs-trained Express Train and seven others will add a chapter to Big Cap lore. They race 1 1/4 miles on dirt in the 11th and final race on a splendid program with a total of six graded stakes, including three Grade 1’s. Express Train has won Grade 2 stakes in both his starts this meet. In order to win his first Grade 1 and solidify his status as California’s top older horse, Express Train must turn back two key Big Cap rivals – Grade 1-placed Stilleto Boy and the improving, lightly raced Midwest shipper Warrant. Behind favorites Express Train, Stilleto Boy, and Warrant are five longshots. Grade 2 winner Kiss Today Goodbye finished a better-than-looked fifth last out. American Theorem is speed; Grade 2 winner Spielberg runs third start back from a layoff; stakes winner Why Why Paul Why arrives from Parx Racing with high figures; Soy Tapatio won an entry-level allowance last out. :: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.  The Big Cap follows two Grade 1’s. As Time Goes By figures to be favored in the Beholder Mile for fillies and mares, race 9; Count Again tops a deep field of turf milers in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile, race 10. While racing’s winter landscape has changed, so too has Express Train. Owned by the CRK Stable of Lee and Susan Searing and ridden by Victor Espinoza, Express Train has blossomed as an older horse. “Now that he’s 5, he’s really filled out,” Shirreffs said. “In the beginning, it was tougher for him to recover between races. Now that he’s mature, it’s a lot easier and races don’t take as much out of him.” Express Train was one of the most underappreciated handicap horses last year at 4, when he won three graded stakes but often was compromised by bad luck. Shirreffs maintains Express Train’s runner-up finish in last year’s Big Cap was partly the result of a premature move. A mile and one-quarter should not be an issue, considering his decisive Grade 2 win last out at 1 1/8 miles. Espinoza, after he worked Express Train on Sunday morning, addressed the extra furlong he will try on Saturday. :: Serious horseplayers use serious products. Get DRF's premium past performances, now free for the first time “The distance is going to be perfect – it might even be better for him,” Espinoza said. “I think a mile and a quarter is going to be fine. [The pace] is a little slower at the start, and when he gets into that rhythm, with the long stride that he has, he’s going to run his best.” Express Train has won six races and $935,000 from 16 starts. One might argue that the versatile pace-presser is the most probable winner on the Saturday card, which is to take nothing away from Stilleto Boy or Warrant. Stilleto Boy knocked heads with the country’s best older horses in four successive Grade 1’s at Santa Anita (twice), Del Mar, and Gulfstream Park while chasing Medina Spirit, Knicks Go, Flightline, and Life Is Good. The company gets easier Saturday. Ed Moger trains Stilleto Boy for his brother Steve Moger, who purchased the gelding at a horses of racing age sale last summer for $420,000. Moger is out already, Stilleto Boy has earned $583,500 from six starts since the purchase. Stilleto Boy finished third last out in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream, after which Moger planned to walk the gelding for two weeks. “But after about four days, we had to get him back to the track. He was tearing the barn down, so he’s doing really good,” Moger told track publicity. John Velazquez rides Stilleto Boy for the first time. The 104 Beyer Speed Figure he earned in the Pegasus is the highest figure in the Big Cap field. Warrant shipped to California from Fair Grounds this week. Trained by Brad Cox, he has raced nine times, winning three including the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park. Warrant finished third in his recent Grade 3 comeback behind Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon in the Louisiana Stakes. “They are world-class horses. [Warrant] is a little behind those two,” Cox acknowledged. “He’s recorded figures we thought stacked up with the group in California. We did as much homework as we could on the Santa Anita Handicap and thought we could go out and give him an opportunity in a Grade 1.” Warrant landed California’s leading rider, Flavien Prat, for the Big Cap. Cox said the colt’s last few works “have been fantastic.” Kiss Today Goodbye has a knockout chance after an improved effort last out for trainer Eric Kruljac. Kiss Today Goodbye won the Grade 2 San Antonio last year at 15-1. His odds should be at least that high on Saturday.