Indian Peak sure to benefit from return to turf in Unusual Heat Turf Classic
Indian Peak had a miserable afternoon at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, the day he finished last of four in the Grade 3 San Gabriel Stakes.
The race was moved from turf to dirt because of rain. Indian Peak showed little interest in the stretch.
“It was kind of wet,” trainer Ruben Alvarado recalled on Thursday. “I don’t think he was happy. I threw that race to the side.”
Since then, Alvarado has focused Indian Peak on Saturday’s $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles for statebreds, banking on the 5-year-old gelding’s grass form. In the fall, Indian Peak was the 16-1 upset winner of the California Flag Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Oct. 16, and a fast-closing third at 28-1 in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 27.
At the time, Peter Miller trained Indian Peak. Alvarado took control of the stable in late November.
In the Unusual Heat Turf Classic, Indian Peak is part of a field of eight and drew the outside post. John Velazquez rides Indian Peak for the first time, and is likely to have his mount toward the back of the field early.
“He’s a horse that makes one run,” Alvarado said. “That’s him.”
Saturday’s race will be the first for Indian Peak at 1 1/8 miles since the 2021 Unusual Heat Turf Classic, when he finished a troubled sixth.
This year’s race is slightly easier than expected because of the absences of the graded stakes winners Acclimate and None Above the Law. Acclimate will start in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at his preferred distance of 1 1/4 miles on turf on Jan. 30, trainer Phil D’Amato said. None Above the Law, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby in September, was recently taken out of training, Alvarado said.
Other contenders include Aligato, Big Fish, Camino Del Paraiso and Margot’s Boy. Ferrariano, Luvluv, and Whooping Jay also start. The Unusual Heat Turf Classic is part of the 20-cent Rainbow pick six, which has a mandatory payout on Saturday.
The Unusual Heat Turf Classic will be the stakes debut and first start at 1 1/8 miles for Aligato, who was second by a nose in an allowance race at six furlongs on Jan. 1. Flavien Prat, the leading rider at the winter-spring meeting through Sunday, has the mount.
Aligato was scratched from an allowance race at a mile on Dec. 27, when the race was moved from turf to dirt because of rain.
Camino Del Paraiso will have his first start as a 9-year-old on Saturday. Trained by O.J. Jauregui, Camino Del Paraiso was second in the Grade 3 Berkeley Stakes on the synthetic main track at Golden Gate Fields in November, his 28th appearance in a stakes.
“He’s a nice old horse and he’s a trier,” Jauregui said. “I have to give him a shot.”