Independence Hall just might take up the challenge in Santa Anita Handicap

Independence Hall, third in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 23, might run 1 1/4 miles for the first time in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.

“We’ve got a lot of options out there,” trainer Michael McCarthy said Thursday. “We’ve put a soft circle around the Santa Anita Handicap.”

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The $400,000 Big Cap is the top race for older horses on dirt at the six-month Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.

Independence Hall finished three lengths behind Knicks Go in the Pegasus World Cup, and was beaten a neck for second by Jesus’ Team. Independence Hall won two stakes for trainer Michael Trombetta, in late 2019 and early 2020, before joining McCarthy’s stable late last summer.

Independence Hall finished fifth of six for McCarthy in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

McCarthy said the longer trip in the Big Cap is “a little bit of an X factor.”

“I thought his race on Saturday was pretty good, especially coming out of a bad seven-eighths race,” he said. “You’re guessing a little bit, coming across the country and running two furlongs farther.”

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Owned by the partnership of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, WinStar Farm, and Twin Creeks Racing Stable, Independence Hall has won 4 of 8 starts and earned $606,600.

The Big Cap field will be better known after the final local prep, Saturday’s Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes.

After Saturday, there are no stakes at Santa Anita until Friday’s rescheduled $75,000 Baffle Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters on turf. The race was originally slated for Sunday, but was postponed several days because of a forecast of significant rain this week.