Gift Box breezes for Santa Anita Handicap on busy morning

ARCADIA, Calif. – Leading candidates for the four graded stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, March 9, were among 317 works here on Friday.

Friday was a busier-than-normal day for workouts, with a rainstorm expected Saturday. Santa Anita closed its main track for training late Monday morning and all of Tuesday and Wednesday to inspect the surface following 19 equine fatalities in recent months. Track officials and consultants said no irregularities were found in the inspection.

There were several notable horses working Friday, including Gift Box, a leading contender for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 9. The winner of the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes in his California debut on Dec. 26, Gift Box worked six furlongs in 1:14. On Feb. 23, Gift Box worked seven furlongs in 1:23, which trainer John Sadler considered to be the 6-year-old horse’s main work for the Big Cap.

“He got his hard work in last week,” Sadler said. “This is the blowout for the Big Cap, moved up a day because of rain.”

The Big Cap field is expected to be led by Gift Box and McKinzie, who was second in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes here on Feb. 2. Other probable starters are Campaign, Dabster, Noble Commander, Prime Attraction, and Sonneteer.

The Big Cap is the richest race on the March 9 program, but the focus of the day will be the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, a $500,000 race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. The San Felipe is a key prep for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

The San Felipe Stakes will mark the return of Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, and Improbable, the winner of the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity in December. Other candidates are East Shot, Extra Hope, and Gunmetal Gray.

Gunmetal Gray was second to Mucho Gusto in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes here on Feb. 2. On Friday, Gunmetal Gray worked six furlongs in 1:15.20.

The Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf may have the largest field of the four graded stakes on March 9. As of Friday, the list of candidates for what should be a strong race were Blended Citizen, Caribou Club, Catapult, Delta Prince, Desert Stone, Hunt, Next Shares, River Boyne, and True Valour.

Catapult, second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November and fourth in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Friday.

The Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs on March 9 has seven probable runners – Ax Man, Dr Dorr, Giant Expectations, Kanthaka, Red Lightning, St. Joe Bay, and Touching Rainbows.

Kanthaka, a two-time stakes winner who was second in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes on Jan. 19, worked six furlongs in 1:14.60 on Friday.

Two other notable 3-year-olds worked on Friday – the colt Omaha Beach and filly the Bellafina.

Omaha Beach, who has had a disrupted training schedule because of a quarter crack, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80, his second workout in the last month. Trainer Richard Mandella said he is pointing Omaha Beach to the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 16 if the quarter crack issue does not become a problem.

“We’ve got it patched, but we have to watch it,” Mandella said.

Omaha Beach won a maiden race in his last start on Feb. 2.

Bellafina, unbeaten in two starts this year, both Grade 2 stakes, worked a half-mile in 49.60 seconds in preparation for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 6. Trained by Simon Callaghan, Bellafina won the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile on Feb. 9.