Fast Buck's speed gives him edge in Daytona Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Although the Santa Anita hillside turf course has not been kind to sprint speedster Fast Buck, a favorable pace scenario suggests a turnaround on Saturday.

Fast Buck enters the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes as the lone front-runner, but with a glaring flaw. The 6 1/2-furlong hillside course is where Fast Buck ran the worst two turf races of his career – next-to-last finishes in a Cal-bred stakes and a second-level allowance.

Trainer Cesar DeAlba believes Fast Buck was compromised by passive strategy in both hillside races, and he looks forward to the gelding using his key weapon Saturday – speed.

“He needs an aggressive ride,” DeAlba said. “If you let him settle and don’t keep him busy, he’s going to stop. If he’s ahead of horses, he’s tough to catch.”

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Fast Buck wired a second-level allowance last out on the main turf oval, and could be loose in the Daytona, which goes as race 7. His rivals include graded winner Whatmakessammyrun, rounding-into-form Burnin Turf, sharp dirt sprinter Lovesick Blues, and hillside stakes winner Indian Peak. The comebacker Restrainedvengence and import Prince Lancelot also were entered.

The 2023 campaign for Fast Buck did not begin well. Racing on the hill, he finished fourth of five in March and fifth of six in April.

DeAlba switched riders last out, and Diego Herrera guided Fast Buck to a front-running allowance win, the gelding’s fourth in eight starts. Fast Buck changes riders again Saturday. Herrera is committed to Prince Lancelot, and Hector Berrios picks up the mount on Fast Buck, who is nominated to the Crystal Water Stakes, a Cal-bred turf mile on Sunday.

“We realized the Crystal Water might come up tougher, and there was not that much real speed in the [Daytona],” DeAlba said.

If 6 1/2 furlongs is out of reach for Fast Buck, then Burnin Turf could post a mild upset. Dan Blacker trains Burnin Turf, a 7-year-old who finished third in the Daytona one year ago.

Burnin Turf did not win until he was 5. The maiden victory came in his third start.

“He was a late bloomer,” Blacker said. “He really didn’t start getting good until he was a 5-year-old.”

Burnin Turf’s best races have come since he started racing on the hillside course in spring of 2022.

“That’s when he started stamping himself as a stakes-level horse,” Blacker said.

Burnin Turf, 2 for 4 on the hill and 5 for 15 in his career, finished a creditable fourth last out in a hillside stakes, his first start in about two months. The gelding could get a great trip Saturday positioned second behind the speed. If Fast Buck stops, Burnin Turf and Drayden Van Dyke would get first run.

Whatmakessammyrun is the hillside class of the Daytona, having won a Grade 2 on the course last fall and Siren Lure Stakes on it last out. Mark Glatt trains Whatmakessammyrun; Joe Bravo rides. Indian Peak, a two-time Cal-bred stakes winner, seeks his first win since the California Flag Stakes on the hillside course in 2021.

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