This weekend is quiet at Santa Anita, where the next significant action is a graded stakes quadruple-header April 30. Meantime, plenty of cross-country topics this week, from Oaklawn Park to Keeneland to Santa Anita and elsewhere . . . Get lucky in the Count Fleet As if Jackie’s Warrior’s needed help, recent history of the Grade 3 Count Fleet Handicap boosts the favorite’s chance to win the six-furlong race Saturday at Oaklawn Park. Few graded races are more predictable – Count Fleet favorites have won 13 of the past 20, including three by Whitmore. Looking for a longshot under Jackie’s Warrior and second favorite Bob’s Edge? Daily Racing Form Horses to Watch lister Letsgetlucky ran super last out winning a Santa Anita statebred allowance despite a slow start and wide trip over his least-preferred surface (turf). Letsgetlucky just might outrun his price Saturday. McCarthy runners hit road Smooth Like Strait is the first of three Michael McCarthy-trained Santa Anita-based Grade 1 winners taking road trips. Smooth Like Strait runs Friday at Keeneland in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile; Ce Ce goes to Oaklawn for the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 23; and Queen Goddess ships to Keeneland for the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at a 1 1/2 miles on April 29. :: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.  Three top horses, three tough spots. No disrespect to other Apple Blossom entrants, but the first showdown between 2020 Apple Blossom winner Ce Ce and 2021 winner Letruska should be a thriller. Eight days out, it looks like a coin flip. Masen will be hard to catch In the Maker’s Mark, imported gelding Masen might be the controlling speed, and trainer Chad Brown and jockey Flavien Prat are 7 for 22 in Grade 1 races since they first teamed in late 2020. During the same period and class level, Brown and Irad Ortiz Jr. are 2 for 18. They team with Public Sector. As for Masen, by Kingman, his second dam is Grade 1 winner Intercontinental, from a high-class Juddmonte family. Her siblings include Grade 1 winners Heat Haze, Cacique, Champs Elysees, Banks Hill, and late stallion Dansili. Masen has speed, and he can finish. Color him gone. Big City Lights with Mandella Big City Lights is the latest high-profile horse to change barns. Luis Mendez trained Big City Lights last year when he romped twice at Santa Anita, including in the Fasig-Tipton Futurity, before a knee chip ended his 2-year-old campaign. Big City Lights re-entered training this spring for Mendez, but owner William Peeples recently moved him to Richard Mandella. A summer comeback is possible after he overcomes a minor hiccup. Big City Lights came down with a temperature after changing barns, but should return to the track this week. As for Mendez, his 2-year-olds are racing this spring at Keeneland, including impressive April 8 debut winner King Adrock, who Mendez may aim to the $200,000 Kentucky Juvenile on May 7 at Churchill Downs. At the Spa retired At the Spa’s career might have lasted more than six races, but the 3-year-old filly has been retired after she bled again in the Evening Jewel Stakes on April 9 at Santa Anita. At the Spa was the top California-bred juvenile filly last year for trainer Jorge Periban. She crushed her debut in May and won the Fasig-Tipton Debutante at Santa Anita and CTBA Stakes at Del Mar. But she did not return to form and bled in her last two starts. Like many trainers, Periban wishes the anti-bleeding medication Lasix was allowed. “You can help the horse, but they don’t [allow] it. It’s not good.” At the Spa, a California-bred sired by Outwork, won three races and $166,080 from six starts. Cordiality in foal to Grazen Retirement, take two. The 9-year-old California-bred stakes winner Cordiality has been retired again. The veteran, who resumed racing this year for owner Donnie Crevier after her 2021 mating with Grazen did not take, was pronounced in foal to Grazen this week, according to trainer Tim Yakteen. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports A five-time stakes winner who won 12 races and $634,363 from 37 starts, Cordiality finished seventh twice this winter in allowance races. Without the likes of California-bred fillies and mares Mucho Unusual, Warren’s Showtime, and Cordiality, there are not many California-bred fillies and mares left for the Fran’s Valentine Stakes on May 28 at Santa Anita. Cordiality won the race twice, in 2018 and 2019. A family affair The value of racing filly Cairo Memories and her half-sibling Memories Prevail mushroomed April 9 in stakes at Santa Anita and Keeneland. Cairo Memories won the Grade 3 Providencia, her first graded win. The same day, Zandon, produced by Memories Prevail, won the Grade 1 Blue Grass. As for another boy in the family, meh. On March 18 at Charles Town, a gelding half-brother to Cairo Memories and Memories Prevail won the 14th start of his career in a $5,000 maiden-claiming race. Unspoken Memories paid $4.40. Hoping for Met Mile showdown The undefeated Flightline might once have been considered a standout in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 11 at Belmont Park. Now, Flightline might not even be the Met Mile favorite. The dazzling victory by Speaker’s Corner in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap on April 9 at Aqueduct earned a career-high 114 Beyer. A day after Speaker’s Corner romped in the Carter, Flightline posted his first comeback breeze, three furlongs at Santa Anita in 37 seconds. Here’s hoping both horses make the Met. Speaker’s Corner versus Flightline would be one of the most highly anticipated stakes on Belmont Stakes Day. Idol nearing a race Compared to his 3-year-old full sibling, Idol has some catching up to do. Nest (by Curlin, from Marion Ravenwood) crushed the Grade 1 Ashland to emerge as one of the favorites for the Kentucky Oaks, but 5-year-old Idol has not raced since fall and has not won since the Santa Anita Handicap last spring. “He’s getting close,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “I don’t know where I’m going to run him. He likes a tighter track.” Idol, who is up to six furlongs in workouts at San Luis Rey Downs, is nominated to the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 23, but a three-other-than allowance seems reasonable. Regardless, Idol’s comeback is likely to be somewhere other than California. Vazquez filling the void Ramon Vazquez has settled in. Fourth-leading rider at Oaklawn Park, Vazquez relocated to Santa Anita and on Sunday rode maiden Trainer Please to his first Santa Anita win since a one-day trip in 2016. Why relocate to California? “Everybody is leaving – Flavien Prat and Umberto Rispoli,” Vazquez said. “I was thinking it was a good opportunity to try here, to look for better horses. People here are so friendly.” Sure enough, on his way back to the jockeys’ room after his victory, a fan asked Vazquez for a photo and autograph. Probably the first of many in California. Vazquez, 38, has won nearly 3,400 races and strengthens the Santa Anita colony. The question is, how long he will stay? Winick will take the ‘W’ Trainer Debbie Winick’s first Santa Anita win did not happen as she envisioned, but she’ll take it. “It wasn’t the best way, but it was a good way,” Winick said after second-place Sawasdee won an April 9 maiden race when Dutch Bus was disqualified. Winick, who was married to jockey Danny Winick, is the daughter of 1940s rider Albert Hillman. Debbie Winick has worked at Harris Farms in Central California the past decade and has 12 runners stabled at Santa Anita. Most are maidens, including the improving Blonde Bombshell. Winick, who typically trains a small string, has won 74 races since 2009. All’s well that ends well In an ironic twist, the final Santa Anita win by jockey Umberto Rispoli before leaving for Kentucky was for trainer John Sadler and owner Hronis Racing. Rispoli won 26 races for Sadler since 2020, but two decisions stung. Rispoli rode Sadler-Hronis colt Rock Your World to victory in the 2021 Santa Anita Derby, but was replaced by Joel Rosario in the Kentucky Derby. In the 2020 Santa Anita Handicap, Rispoli was named on Combatant. But when Rosario’s mount Gift Box scratched, Rispoli was replaced on Combatant by Rosario, who rode Combatant to victory. :: For the first time ever, our premium past performances are free! Get free Formulator now! Water under the bridge. Rispoli, Sadler, and Hronis parted on good terms when Bran won the Siren Lure Stakes, a turf sprint on April 10. Gregorian Chant to Churchill Bran’s win in the Siren Lure flattered the recent comeback by Gregorian Chant. A graded stakes-winning turf sprinter, Gregorian Chant had been off six months when he toyed with Bran in a March 25 allowance at Santa Anita. Bran’s next start is undetermined, but Gregorian Chant will aim high. Trainer Phil D’Amato will target the Grade 2, $500,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint on May 6 at Churchill Downs. With the freaky Golden Pal headed to Royal Ascot, Gregorian Chant enters the Twin Spires as a top contender. Kuehhas a stone-cold winner For nearly 30 years, Chuck Kuehhas was among Daily Racing Form’s most indispensable staff members. Director of Data and Handicapping, Kuehhas coordinated handicapping assignments, handled production and quality assurance, and consistently showcased his handicapping expertise in the DRF consensus grid. Kuehhas “best bet” selections this winter at Santa Anita have won at a 35 percent clip and generated a flat-bet profit. Here’s wishing Kuehhas all the best in retirement. To say he will be missed by colleagues and readers is an understatement. His final day is Friday, final selections April 17.