Free: Comebackers, shippers, and a Pegasus exacta
ARCADIA, Calif. – January racing is relatively quiet, yet not without notes and opinions to catch up with, from Santa Anita to Fair Grounds to Gulfstream Park and Turf Paradise. Stuff like this . . .
Small fields
How severe is the California horse shortage? Average field size this winter at Santa Anita has dwindled to 6.94 per race, a record low for the first month of the winter season. The past two decades, the previous low was 7.61 during the first month of the 2019-20 meet. Dirt races especially struggle – nearly one-third of the dirt races this winter had five starters or less. Favorites this meet have won 42 percent on dirt, 52 percent on turf.
Country Grammer looms
Now that Zedan Racing has purchased an ownership interest in Country Grammer, one wonders where the Grade 1 winner will launch his 2022 campaign for Zedan and WinStar Farm. The $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 26 would be ambitious, though that race had been the target for Zedan’s ill-fated Medina Spirit.
Country Grammer is trained by Bob Baffert, and the 5-year-old looked good in a team gate work Monday at Santa Anita. Country Grammer, 3 for 8, has not raced since May 31 when he won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita.
Idol ready to breeze
Speaking of Grade 1 winners from last year, Santa Anita Handicap winner Idol has relocated from Santa Anita to San Luis Rey Downs and is scheduled for his first comeback breeze this week, according to trainer Richard Baltas. Idol and Country Grammer would bolster a shallow handicap division. Of course, that does not include the fastest horse in America. Undefeated sprinter Flightline will breeze this weekend for the first time since his 118 Beyer Speed Figure smasher in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26.
Stakes love for Pincay?
Saturday’s stakes tripleheader at Santa Anita includes the Grade 2 San Vicente, a sprint for 3-year-olds that Laffit Pincay Jr. won a record seven times. Pincay is one of the all-time greatest jockeys, yet without a stakes race named in his honor à la riding contemporaries Bill Shoemaker and Eddie Delahoussaye or Santa Anita characters Eddie Logan and John Shear. Entries for the San Vicente were to be drawn Wednesday; eight of the 15 nominees are from one stable.
Dubai invite for Barraza
Barraza, the turf sprinter who dazzled (97 Beyer) in the Clockers’ Corner last weekend at Santa Anita, was invited to Dubai for the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint on the March 26 Dubai World Cup undercard. Trainer Vladimir Cerin said Barraza, 3 for 3 sprinting since being claimed for $100,000 last April, is likely to stay home for the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on Feb. 20. By the way, last year’s Clockers’ Corner and San Simeon winner Gregorian Chant posted his first comeback breeze Monday.
O’Neill eyes Rachel Alexandra
After the low-rated (74 Beyer) Silverbulletday Stakes on Jan. 22 at Fair Grounds, it looks like the track’s next 3-year-old filly stakes is ripe for a California shipper. Doug O’Neill trains Awake at Midnyte, an improving Nyquist filly who recently finished second in the seven-furlong Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita. Her next start is Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. Three weeks out, Awake at Midnyte is the early pick to ship and win.
Blah effort by Bletchley Park
Hard-pressed to put a positive spin on the bland debut by the most expensive horse to race last week at Santa Anita. Odds-on Bletchley Park, the $2.6 million Nyquist 3-year-old colt trained by Baffert, wasted a perfect trip finishing second in race 8 on Jan. 22. Meh.
But elsewhere, the $1.5 million Quality Road debut colt Vinto, trained by Dallas Stewart, ran super finishing second at Fair Grounds (race 9, Jan. 22). The same day at Tampa Bay Downs (race 10, Jan. 22), Chad Brown-trained Salimah trounced a maiden turf mile by nearly five lengths while looking like a future stakes horse. We’ll be hearing more from 3-year-olds Vinto and Salimah. The jury is out on Bletchley Park.
Take a stab with Stilleto Boy
The late broadcaster Bob Neumeier occasionally recommended a betting strategy that applies to the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. In a race with two low-odds standouts, such as Knicks Go and Life Is Good, the technique insists one favorite wins, the other misfires, and a longshot completes the exacta.
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With a nod to Neumeier, the strategy especially suits this year’s Pegasus, since Knicks Go and Life Is Good both are front-runners. California-based Stilleto Boy, off-the-pace longshot runner-up three starts back in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita, is the Pegasus bomb. Listed at 20-1 and working well, he stretches back to two turns. If either Knicks Go or Life Is Good toss in a clunker, Stilleto Boy could easily rally into second.
Guest caller at Turf Paradise
Did you happen to hear the Turf Paradise guest announcer last week? Dani Jackson’s race calls were coherent, engaging, accurate, and thankfully free of hyperbole. It was a temporary gig for Jackson, whose regular job in England includes broadcast host and greyhound racing commentator for William Hill. Hope to hear more Jackson race calls in the future.
Ark.-bred danger at Sam Houston
The Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic will be run for only the 10th time Sunday at Sam Houston. The race has already become an early benchmark in the distaff division. Winners include Joyful Victory, Grade 1 winner next out; Forever Unbridled, who later won Grade 1s including the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; Midnight Bisou, who launched her 2019 championship campaign in the Ladies Classic; and Letruska, who did the same last year.
This year’s Houston Ladies Classic is light. Pauline’s Pearl is the class, and improving Audrey’s Time commands respect. But if romping Oaklawn Park allowance winner The Mary Rose runs two alike, she can become the first Arkansas-bred winner of the richest race of the Sam Houston meet.
Soi Phet anniversary
This date in Santa Anita history: Exactly 10 years ago, on Jan. 28, 2012, a California-bred maiden began his career with an inauspicious next-to-last-place debut. Soi Phet, claimed the following spring for $16,000 by trainer Leonard Powell, went on to win eight stakes, 15 races overall, and earn $1,023,917 from 64 starts before he retired in 2019 to Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky.