Gift Box faces solid shippers in Gold Cup at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. – Fresh horses have landed, lured by prestige and $500,000 purses in three Grade 1 races Monday at Santa Anita.

Ollie’s Candy comes off the bench seeking to upset local favorite Vasilika and East Coast shipper Rymska in the Gamely Stakes for turf fillies and mares, race 7. Delta Prince is just off a plane from New York, favored vs. comebacker Sharp Samurai and Catapult in the Shoemaker Mile,race 9.

And between the grass stakes, Gift Box will try to tighten his grip on the California handicap division when he starts favored in the 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup, race 8. Two worthy interlopers are in his way – New York-based Vino Rosso and Midwest-based Lone Sailor.

Why ship across the country to face the streaking Gift Box, who is racing over his home track? It’s simple. Vino Rosso will try to build his résumé as a future stallion, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. Same with Lone Sailor, trained by Tom Amoss.

“It’s a Grade 1, it’s a stallion-maker,” Amoss said about the Gold Cup. “Looking around the country to what was available, and examining the leading horses in California, I thought that we had a heck of an opportunity to be competitive in a Grade 1.”

Makes sense. Vino Rosso and Lone Sailor are fast enough to be competitive in the Gold Cup, while longshot front-runner Blitzkrieg will try to steal it. Core Beliefs, a Grade 2 winner, has a shot. Outsiders in the field of seven areMongolian Groom and Higher Power.

The Gold Cup, however, could be a formality. Gift Box won the Grade 2 San Antonio in December, was off for three months during the interruption of racing, and returned with a thrilling victory over McKinzie in the Santa Anita Handicap.

Now that relative normalcy has returned to the Santa Anita spring program, trainer John Sadler expects Gift Box to maintain his excellent form, or even improve.

“We had that funny schedule when they [postponed] the Big Cap,” Sadler said. “What was hard was you really have to train to run a mile and a quarter. It wasn’t like you could keep him sharp and throw him in. Now, as we get into more of a regular schedule and know when the races are, everything’s going really well.”

Gift Box did not start between his Grade 2 San Antonio victory on Dec. 26 and the 1 1/4-mile Big Cap on April 6. Since then, he has worked exceptionally well and figures for a great trip, pressing the Gold Cup pace from second position.

Gift Box gives Sadler and jockey Joel Rosario one of their best chances Monday, but he is not their only chance. Sadler, who calls Rosario a “difference maker,” named Rosario on six runners, including Ollie’s Candy in the Gamely. The only non-Sadler runner Rosario rides Monday is Delta Prince for Jimmy Jerkens in the Shoemaker.

The Gold Cup pace centers on Blitzkrieg, a Grade 3 winner on turf initially expected in the Shoemaker Mile. Blitzkrieg, 3 for 3 since being claimed for $25,000, has never raced on dirt.

“He trains so well on the dirt, there’s no better place to try than his own backyard,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He drew the rail; we’ll be on the lead, I would think.”

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KEY CONTENDERS

Gift Box, by Twirling Candy
Last 3 Beyers: 102-101-99

◗ Both wins this season by Gift Box were flattered by the runner-up. Gift Box defeated next-out stakes winner Battle of Midway in the San Antonio and next-out stakes winner McKinzie in the Big Cap.

◗ Sadler and Rosario are 17 for 37 together at Santa Anita since Dec. 26.

Vino Rosso, by Curlin
Last 3 Beyers: 96-98-92

◗ Winner of the Grade 2 Wood Memorial and ninth in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, Vino Rosso will be ridden by his regular jockey, John Velazquez.

Lone Sailor, by Majestic Warrior
Last 3 Beyers: 98-93-88

◗ Amoss believes Lone Sailor, eighth in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, turned the corner this year. “I’ve been saying since he came to the track as a young horse that he was going to get better with age,” he said. Lone Sailor matched his career-high speed figure last out.

◗ Flavien Prat, who rode Lone Sailor to a runner-up finish last out in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, rides him back.

Core Beliefs, by Quality Road
Last 3 Beyers: 94-91-82

◗ He won the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap last out for trainer Peter Eurton and jockey Florent Geroux, who rides him back.

Blitzkrieg, by War Front
Last 3 Beyers: 99-90-90

◗ Claimed in January, he’s won three races and $204,351 since then, including a victory last out on turf in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile. Rafael Bejarano rides.