Free: Opening day at Santa Anita included Gift Box, with bows

ARCADIA, Calif. – The best thing about opening day at Santa Anita – everyone seemed to be having fun. It almost felt nostalgic. The crowd was festive, the high-class races were exciting.

Saturday also was enjoyable because California needed a restart. After a racing season in which everyone wanted less of one thing, opening day left fans wanting more.

And it offered an inviting preview of 2020.

A hotshot 2-year-old trounced maidens like he will be a major 3-year-old; a gray Grade 1 winner returned with an ideal comeback and travel plans; and a panicky one-eyed filly won a Grade 1 minutes after it seemed she might be scratched. Plenty on which to build.

Of course, other things that might need repair deserve a mention. Racing always includes the good, the bad, and the unlucky.

Saturday’s first race was a maiden sprint and the career debut of Devil Made Me Doit, a $245,000 Daredevil juvenile whose majority owner is J. Paul Reddam. Consignor Ciaran Dunne retained a share and gave an early heads-up to trainer Doug O’Neill.

“When he sent him to me, he was like – ‘I’m telling you, this is a super-duper colt.’ He doesn’t say that very often,” O’Neill recalled. The colt “came in with a first-round draft pick [reputation] from the crew around him, and we just saw a first-round type of run.”

Devil Made Me Doit broke running under Mario Gutierrez, took heat, and ran away by more than nine lengths with an 87 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He’s pretty professional for being a baby,” Gutierrez said. “He’s not the type of horse that needs to be ridden; he’ll give it to you without even asking him.”

What’s next for Devil Made Me Doit? It depends. Tension between the colt’s connections and track management is no secret, and O’Neill already plans to race a string at Oaklawn Park. Devil Made Me Doit, in Arkansas or California, enters 2020 with star potential.

Gift Box might have won the Grade 2 San Antonio, race 5, anyway. But when main rival Midcourt broke slowly, the race was over. Gift Box, Grade 1-winning gray, cruised by nearly four lengths with a career-best 107 Beyer. Big fig, earned under ideal conditions.

Midcourt never had a chance. Off slowly, five wide early, and wide throughout, he ran well for third. Midcourt’s winter plans are undetermined; Gift Box will travel – for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup next month at Gulfstream Park or $20 million Saudi Cup in February. By comparison, the $600,000 Big Cap on March 7 is small potatoes.

Who is this jockey named Joe Bravo? It seems every time he rides at Santa Anita, he puts on a clinic. It was Blue Prize in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November, and Lady Prancealot in the Grade 1 American Oaks, race 6, with a daring rail rally.

Bravo is well known, of course. Wish that “Jersey Joe” rode more often in California. Fun to watch, rewarding to bet. As for Lady Prancealot, she beat an ordinary group in the final age-restricted race for her division. Older will be tougher. Regarding the American Oaks, its relevance continues to slip since being moved from summer to December.

Speaking of the stakes calendar, it definitely needs revision for main-track fillies and mares. Race 7 on Saturday was the seven-furlong Grade 1 La Brea, positioned only 13 days in front of the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes around two turns.

The timing of the La Canada is flawed. Neither La Brea winner Hard Not to Love, nor better-than-looked fourth-place finisher First Star – both pointing for routes – can wheel back that soon. That means they are out of action until March 14 and the Grade 1 Beholder.

As for Hard Not to Love, she had a pre-race panic attack. For five minutes in front of the grandstand, she simply refused to go. She would take a couple steps and stop. Take a step, stop again. The longer it went, the less likely it seemed she would start.

“She’s just different, she has anxiety attacks,” jockey Mike Smith said. “Today was the worst as far as the post parade, but she’s been worse saddling, worse leaving the barn. Every day’s a different day.”

Smith finally got Hard Not to Love to the gate, she broke slowly, trailed, then ran past the pacesetters to win going away. No left eye, no big deal. Hard Not to Love will be fun to watch develop in 2020. But it’s going to be a two-month wait.

Bellafina was another favorite to lose the La Brea; six straight losses by odds-on choices. It’s nonsense in this case, because Bellafina ran super for second after being hounded through a blazing 44.41-second half-mile. Now she is off until April at Keeneland, where she and Covfefe could renew their rivalry.

Omaha Beach won the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu as everyone expected him to. Everyone that is, except for a smart-aleck handicapper who backed East Coast allowance winner Complexity. He finished a distant fourth.

After one final start, Omaha Beach will be off to stud. No joy for fans that hoped to see how good he might become at age 4.

But there was plenty to cheer opening day at Santa Anita – a reminder of the thrill of racing and fun that hopefully will carry through a Happy New Year.