Jacobson expanding to Southern California

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – David Jacobson is going bi-coastal.

Already a force in New York, Jacobson plans to open a Southern California division when he sends about 20 horses to Santa Anita for the winter meet. Among the horses he will be sending is Salutos Amigos, a multiple-graded-stakes-winning sprinter who is targeting the Grade 3 Midnight Lute Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 2.

Jacobson will still maintain a 50-horse string in New York and will have 10 horses at Gulfstream Park.

Jacobson said he will ship nine horses out to California on Dec. 8 and the rest of his string will ship out two days later. Jacobson said he received “a very nice invitation” from Santa Anita racing officials Rick Hammerle and Mike Lakow.

“It just seemed like a good opportunity,” Jacobson said. “They need horses out there. I’m going out there with pretty much my own horses and we’ll see what happens. I have the option of doing what other trainers do, turning their grass horses out for the winter, but I’ve got a few of them that are doing really well.”

Among the turf horses he is taking out West are recent claims Plainview and Dauphine Russe.

Last winter, Salutos Amigos did really well over Aqueduct’s inner track, winning the Gravesend, Toboggan, and Tom Fool. Salutos Amigos finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and then came back four weeks later with another fifth in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight, a race he won last year.

Jacobson, who owns Salutos Amigos with Mike Moreno’s Southern Equine Stable, said he was considering giving Salutos Amigos a break, but said the horse “has given me no indication that’s what we should do.”