Free: Short stakes fields long on talent
The weekly notebook is full, and it is time to dive in. . . .
Small fields a bicoastal bane
High quality, low quantity. Belmont Park’s blockbuster programs Friday and Saturday continue a troubling trend in dirt stakes – the eight graded races on dirt average only 5.75 entrants per race. It has been happening all year in California. Excluding off-turf stakes, average field size for graded dirt stakes this season at Santa Anita is 5.68 per race.
But good news Saturday at Belmont. The star power incudes Echo Zulu, Jack Christopher, Letruska, Flightline, and whoever wins race 11.
True North a true chalkfest
Can you beat the favorite in the Grade 2 True North Stakes at Belmont Park? Probably not. True North favorites are 10 for 14 since the 2008 meet, including wins in the last four. In race 9 on Friday, Jackie’s Warrior will test the chalk-friendly stat by trying to wire the 6 1/2-furlong race. Another curiosity – until Firenze Fire last year, it had been eight years since the True North was won by a horse that led at every call.
Buzzworthy debut filly
Not sure about wagering value, but am looking forward to the debut of a well-bred 2-year-old filly entered in race 3 on Friday at Churchill Downs. Personal Pursuit is a $500,000 Tapit filly trained by Mark Casse and owned by Tracy Farmer. The filly’s dam, Maddie’s Odyssey, has already produced four California-bred stake winners – Grecian Fire (by Unusual Heat), Sneaking Out (Indian Evening), Been Studying Her (Fast Anna), and Smuggler’s Run (Straight Fire). Interested to see if the Tapit filly from Maddie’s Odyssey is as good as her California-bred siblings. The whispers regarding Personal Pursuit are positive.
Flightline don’t know slow
Flightline is so fast he even surprises those closest to him. Flightline worked early Sunday morning at Santa Anita before shipping to Belmont Park for the Met Mile. The half-mile work was not intended to be flashy.
“We’re going for 48,” trainer John Sadler said beforehand.
The colt’s co-owner Kosta Hronis went a tick lower: “I’m calling 47 and four.”
The speedy Flightline would have none of that. He smoked 46.80 seconds, easily, under Juan Leyva.
“I thought he’d go a little slower,” Sadler said. “He’s so sharp right now.”
Flightline is fun to watch train and even more fun to watch run. He will be tough to catch in race 9 on Saturday, assuming a clean takeoff from the rail post.
Brown wins when he loses
People seem to think Chad Brown wins every major turf race in America. Actually, that is not far from the truth. Yet over the years, 19 of the 26 runners Brown started in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes actually lost.
A tongue-in-cheek handicapper would hope Brown picks up his game Saturday when the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan goes as race 10 at Belmont Park. Brown has won the Manhattan seven times the past 10 years, including one-two finishes the past three. Not bad. This year’s Brown-trained Manhattan entrants are L’Imperator, Adhamo, Rockemperor, and Tribhuvan. Four-horse box, anyone?
Affirmed worth remembering
This date in racing history: It was 44 years ago, on June 10, 1978, at Belmont Park, when Affirmed turned back Alydar to win the Belmont Stakes and become the third Triple Crown winner in six years, following Secretariat in 1973 and Seattle Slew in 1977. The feature race Saturday at Santa Anita is named for the 1978 Triple Crown winner – the Grade 3 Affirmed. Here’s hoping the 3-year-old dirt stakes fills. Nine nominated.
Historical stat of the day
Finish off the board in the Kentucky Derby, skip the Preakness, win the Belmont. It’s happened nine times since 2000 (from 63 chances), including upsetters Creator, $34.80 in 2016; Palace Malice, $29.60 in 2013; Summer Bird, $25.80 in 2009; Birdstone, $74 in 2004; and Commendable, $39.60 in 2000.
Off-board-Derby-skip-Preakness Belmont starters this year include Mo Donegal and longshot Barber Road. For context, Empire Maker is the only Belmont runner since 2000 (from 15 chances) who hit the board in the Derby, skipped the Preakness, and won the Belmont. He did it in 2003. Just one Belmont starter this year enters with the pattern – Rich Strike.
Intriguing option for Taiba
Lightly raced Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba returned to the Santa Anita work tab June 3 for a three-furlong drill, his initial work since finishing 12th in the Kentucky Derby in his third start. Now everyone wants to know where Taiba will return.
For the time being, one can only speculate. An old-school option that once made sense but is now employed with less frequency – a two-other-than allowance route. What a surprise that would be. Yes, dirt-route N2X races are offered in Southern California every once in a while.
Dr. Schivel short on time
Except for Flightline, the California sprint division is leaderless. Brickyard Ride is undergoing hyperbaric treatment for a quarter crack, and time is slipping away for Dr. Schivel. He has not worked since returning from Dubai in spring.
The summer goal has not changed – seek a repeat win in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby on July 30 at Del Mar. However, Dr. Schivel will need to resume full-speed workouts soon to make the Bing Crosby in seven weeks. Meantime, you’d have to believe the connections of East- and Midwest-based sprinters have their eye on the $400,000 Bing Crosby, a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Female sprinters cranking up
Santa Anita’s female sprinters are quiet on the national front, including Becca Taylor, 93 Beyer Speed Figure winner of the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes on June 4. Nice win, but if Becca Taylor and rail-drawn runner-up Dance to the Music switched posts, it might have been a different result.
As for division leaders Ce Ce and Edgeway, one-two in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, they are following familiar paths. Ce Ce will seek a repeat in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney on July 2 at Gulfstream Park; Edgeway is close to resumption of workouts and aiming for a return at Del Mar, where she won the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo last year.
:: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.
‘Dan’ on the comeback trail
It was a big two weeks at Santa Anita for sprinters owned by breeder Nick Alexander and trained by Steve Miyadi. Becca Taylor won the Desert Stormer and Desmond Doss won the $100,000 Thor’s Echo on May 28. Meanwhile, Alexander-Miyadi sprinter Lieutenant Dan is gearing up for a return.
A multiple graded stakes winner and runner-up in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Lieutenant Dan has worked several times, according to Miyadi, though the works were not recorded.
“Too slow to get a time, so it’s not official,” Miyadi said. “They might not call it a work, but I call it a work.”
Comeback race for Lieutenant Dan? “We’re playing that one by ear,” the trainer said.
Lieutenant Dan won the Grade 3 Green Flash, five furlongs on turf, last summer at Del Mar.
Don’t count out Royal Ship
Bettors expected more from Royal Ship than a distant third at even-money in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on May 30 at Santa Anita. Royal Ship may have struggled with the deep surface. Furthermore, trainer Richard Mandella said he came out of the race “a little stiff behind.” He said it is “not a big deal, nothing we can’t work with.”
The setback has happened before, and Royal Ship always returned to form. A Group 1 winner in South America and Grade 1-placed in California, he will target Del Mar summer. Ideally, Royal Ship would prep for the Grade 1 Pacific Classic by running July 30 in the Grade 2 San Diego. Or, he could return to turf, a surface on which he won 5 of 9 in Brazil.
Plans for Mandella sprinters
Mandella is making summer plans for 3-year-old stakes sprinters Forbidden Kingdom and Big City Lights. A throat irritation sidelined Forbidden Kingdom after his sixth in the Santa Anita Derby. Mandella last weekend said “The throat’s healed up, he’s back galloping.” Forbidden Kingdom will soon resume workouts and target the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens Memorial on Aug. 27 at Saratoga.
Big City Lights, 2 for 2 as a juvenile for trainer Luis Mendez, was transferred to Mandella and could return in the $175,000 Real Good Deal Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds on Aug. 5 at Del Mar. Mandella said the $75,000 Oak Tree Sprint on July 2 at Pleasanton is a possibility for Big City Lights if a prep is needed.
Wong nears 1,000 wins
More than 450 Thoroughbred trainers have won at least 1,000 races, according to Equibase, but few as quickly as Jonathan Wong, whose goals were modest when he went on his own in 2014.
“I was just hoping to have 20 horses, have a little success, make a living, and support my family,” he said.
Wong blew way past those expectations. The trainer, who is only 33, now operates one of the largest stables in California, with 20 horses in Southern California, 80 in Northern California, and nearly 20 at Canterbury Park. Wong has won 998 races and could reach the four-figure milestone Friday. He entered three at Santa Anita and 10 at Golden Gate.
Who is the best Wong trainee so far? It has to be Tommy Town’s retired Grade 1 Gamely winner Keeper Ofthe Stars, who is carrying a foal by Into Mischief.