Gaines has two cards to play in Thor's Echo Handicap

ARCADIA, Calif. – The six-race winning streak Smokey Image compiled at the start of his career in 2015 and early 2016 seems like ancient history.

Since then, 6-year-old Smokey Image is winless in 14 starts and has not raced since May 2018. He was sidelined last year with a bout of pneumonia.

Those circumstances leave trainer Carla Gaines in a cautious state of mind for Smokey Image’s comeback in Saturday’s $100,000 Thor’s Echo Handicap for California-breds at six furlongs at Santa Anita.

“Smokey will need that first start,” Gaines said.

Smokey Image, who will race as a gelding for the first time on Saturday, has shown glimpses of his old form in recent workouts, but must prove he can still be as competitive as he was at the outset of his career when he won five consecutive stakes.

“He’s a gelding and that might encourage some interest,” Gaines said Thursday. “He was always a difficult stud. He seems to be a little more relaxed and interested since he came back.”

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Smokey Image is part of a field of seven in the Thor’s Echo Handicap, and may not be Gaines’s best chance. She runs Desert Law, a 5-year-old gelding who will make his stakes debut in his second start of the year.

Desert Law was supplemented at a cost of $25,000 to the Thor’s Echo Handicap, a race that is part of the Golden State Series of stakes for statebreds. The supplemental fee gives Desert Law eligibility in that series of races for the rest of his career.

KEY CONTENDERS

Desert Law, by Desert Code

Last 3 Beyers: 80-97-81

◗ Desert Law won his final start of 2018 in an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option at six furlongs in June and did not race again until he finished fourth in an optional claimer against open company at 6 1/2 furlongs on May 11.

“I thought he was great,” Gaines said of the comeback. “His works have been super. He seems to like this surface.”

◗ Gaines said Desert Law was not injured when he was rested last year. “We decided he earned some time off,” she said.

◗ Desert Law tends to race as a stalker and should have a pace to follow from runners such as Tap the Wire and Smiling Angelo.

Smokey Image, by Southern Image

Last 3 Beyers: 82-87-88

◗ Owned by the Irvin Racing Stable, Smokey Image was based at an equine hospital for a few months last summer. He was gelded last fall.

◗ Smokey Image resumed workouts in mid-April and has had several quick workouts in advance of his return to racing.

“He had a pretty severe illness,” Gaines said. “It was tough getting over that. He had all the time in the world to heal. You always wonder if the lungs are a bit compromised. It hasn’t seemed that way in the morning.”

Coil Me Home, by Coil

Last 3 Beyers: 91-88-81

◗ The Thor’s Echo Handicap will be the stakes debut for Coil Me Home, who has finished second and third in his last two starts, which came in optional claimers against open company this spring. He set the pace in his last two starts, but raced as a stalked in his two wins.