Forest Chatter on favorite turf course for California Flag
ARCADIA, Calif. – Forest Chatter is unbeaten in four starts on Santa Anita’s hillside turf course. He is winless in four starts on turf at other distances at Santa Anita or other venues. A return to the hillside turf course for Monday’s $100,000 California Flag Handicap at Santa Anita may end a three-race losing streak.
“I’m hoping he can turn it back around,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “This was the scene of the crime, where he won four in a row.”
Owned by Marty and Pam Wygod, Forest Chatter is part of a field of seven in the California Flag, which is restricted to California-breds and is run at about 6 1/2 furlongs on turf.
KEY CONTENDERS
Forest Chatter (Last 3 Beyers: 86-92-85)
◗ Forest Chatter won his debut on the hillside turf course against California-bred maidens last January. The streak extended through the winter and spring with wins in an optional claimer against California-breds and two optional claimers against open company.
◗ Forest Chatter was later fourth in the Crystal Water Stakes at a mile on turf here in June. He lost twice at Del Mar in five-furlong turf races – a third in an optional claimer July 22 and a sixth of seven in the Green Flash Handicap.
“I think those races may have been too short,” Mandella said of the Del Mar sprints. “I think he’ll be back to his form.”
◗ Forest Chatter typically races as a stalker but did beat maidens by leading throughout. There is a not clear front-runner in the California Flag field.
Ambitious Brew (Last 3 Beyers: 99-90-91)
◗ Ambitious Brew won the Sensational Star Stakes on the hillside turf course in 2014, part of a season in which he finished second in the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes on the hillside and was seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on the same course.
◗ This year, Ambitious Brew needed five races to win, doing so in the E.B. Johnston Stakes at a mile on dirt at Los Alamitos on Sept. 12.
“He’s won on synthetic, turf, dirt, going short, down the hill,” trainer Marty Jones said. “He’s just a good horse.”
◗ Jones said that Ambitious Brew “struggled” at the start of this year as he was recovering from a procedure to improve his breathing.
“We didn’t get a good rhythm at the start of the year,” he said. “It took him a while to get back going. He seems like he put it together going into the last race.”
Rock Me Baby (Last 3 Beyers: 85-91-90)
◗ Rock Me Baby has won two stakes in his 21-race career – the California Dreamin’ Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the main track at Del Mar in 2014 and the Albany Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Golden Gate Fields in June, his first start of the year.
◗ He had mixed results at Del Mar this summer, finishing second in the California Dreamin’ on July 26 but sixth in the Brubaker Stakes at a mile on the main track Aug. 26 after uncharacteristically being involved in a speed duel.
◗ The California Flag will be his first start on the hillside since a sixth in the BC Turf Sprint in November 2013.