Got'm Cot'm could put it all together

In the last year, the 4-year-old gelding Got’m Cot’m has battled through a severe foot abscess in a hind leg and complications from being gelded.

More recently, Got’m Cot’m has settled into a pattern of consistent performances, leading to a start in an allowance race for statebreds on the main track Sunday at Santa Anita.

Trained by Val Brinkerhoff for Cami Cottam, Got’m Cot’m starts from the outside post in a field of six.

Sunday’s nine-race program includes four allowance races. The $85,000 Anoakia Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs was scheduled for Sunday, but failed to draw sufficient entries. The race will be offered Oct. 23.

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Got’m Cot’m won a starter allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs on dirt Aug. 14 at Del Mar and was third in allowance races for statebreds on turf Sept. 4 at Del Mar and Oct. 3 at Santa Anita. In the latter race, Got’m Cot’m was away slowly and raced in traffic. He closed well to lose by three-quarters of a length.

“It was awful,” Brinkerhoff said of Got’m Cot’m’s trip. “He should have been a winner.”

Brinkerhoff said Got’m Cot’m needed longer than expected to recover from the abscess. Got’m Cot’m did not start from mid-February to late May.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “It took two and a half months to get rid of that thing.

“He wasn’t doing good on that foot. We brought him along a little bit at a time and waited for him to get good and healthy. After we got to Del Mar he seemed to be fully recovered. He’s run better every time.”

Got’m Cot’m is likely to race as a stalker on Sunday with runners such as Piper’s Causeway and Supernal capable of setting the pace from the inside two post positions. Supernal was a game second in a race at this level of competition at Los Alamitos on Sept. 20, leading in the stretch but losing by a neck.

After Sunday’s race, Got’m Cot’m may have a break leading to a 2027 campaign.

“I think he could be one of the better Cal-breds around,” Brinkerhoff said.

The leading turf race on Sunday is an allowance race at 1 1/4 miles, which drew a field of eight. Divisible By, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Neil Drysdale, can win for the third time in his last four starts.

Divisible By won a $50,000 claimer for maidens at Santa Anita in June and a starter allowance at Del Mar in August before he finished second after a wide trip in an allowance race at 1 5/16 miles on Sept. 9 at Kentucky Downs.

The allowance is the longest race for Essos, who was fourth of seven in the Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on dirt Sept. 6 at Del Mar in his stakes debut. Trained by Mark Glatt, Essos won a maiden race at a mile on dirt Aug. 2 at Del Mar, closing from last of five.

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