Jordi Bear gets out of Proletariat's shadow on opening day at Santa Anita

In his first three starts in the United States, Jordi Bear has chased Proletariat through the stretch in turf races at Santa Anita and Del Mar.

In Friday’s sixth race at Santa Anita, the opening day of the track’s six-week autumn meeting, Jordi Bear will finally start in a race without Proletariat. He has an excellent chance to win for the first time since a seven-furlong handicap on turf in Ireland in August 2025.

“He’s a horse that always been knocking on the door,” trainer Phil D’Amato said earlier this week.

Jordi Bear was second by a length to Proletariat in an allowance race at Santa Anita in May. At the Del Mar summer meeting, Jordi Bear was sixth in the Oceanside Handicap in July and third a month later in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, losing to Proletariat. Jordi Bear raced in traffic in the Oceanside and had a wide trip in the Del Mar Derby.

Friday’s race, a first-level allowance, is run at a mile on turf for 3-year-olds. Proletariat, trained by Jeff Mullins, is ineligible under the allowance conditions, giving Jordi Bear a chance for a second victory in his ninth start.

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“Hopefully, it’s some class relief and we can get back to his winning ways,” D’Amato said.

The first two weekends of the meeting, which runs through Nov. 1, include 14 stakes, many with implications for the Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland on Oct. 30-31. Saturday’s program has five graded stakes, led by the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.

For bettors, the track is reintroducing a $1 place pick all for the first time since fall 2013. The bet will have a reduced takeout of 15 percent.

Jordi Bear, who races for a partnership that includes Glen Hill Farm, Little Red Feather Racing, and Madaket Stable, drew post 2 and will be ridden for the first time by Joel Rosario. Antonio Fresu rode Jordi Bear in his first three starts at Santa Anita and Del Mar but has since relocated to New York.

Rosario, who led the jockey standings at the Del Mar summer meeting that ended Sept. 7, is likely to have Jordi Bear toward the back of the field chasing expected pacesetters He’s a Knockout and Piedra Fria.

Jordi Bear was fitted with blinkers for the first time in the Del Mar Derby. He raced in traffic on the first turn and was wide.

“He’s a horse we’re still trying to figure out,” D’Amato said. “He did have trouble in his last one. Maybe with a cleaner trip maybe we can get the job done.”

He’s a Knockout, who starts from the inside post, won the Real Good Deal Stakes for statebreds 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on dirt on July 31 at Del Mar, but was seventh of 10 in a six-furlong allowance race on dirt against open company Aug. 29.

Trained by Carla Gaines, He’s a Knockout won his first two starts in sprints on turf and was fifth by 1 3/4 lengths in the Snow Chief Stakes for statebred 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf on May 23 at Santa Anita. He’s a Knockout overcame a troubled start to race near the front for the first mile of the Snow Chief.

Piedra Fria, who starts from the outside post Friday, was the exciting winner of a maiden race at five furlongs on turf in his debut on Aug. 21 at Del Mar, closing from fourth to win by 3 1/4 lengths. Trained by Doug O’Neill, Piedra Fria worked five furlongs on dirt from the gate in a quick 58.80 seconds on Sept. 18 at Santa Anita.

The other runners in the allowance race are Iriseach, who was third and second in two one-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita in February and May; Caro Buono, third in the John Shear Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters at Santa Anita in April; and Scatalotadingdong, who was sixth in the Snow Chief Stakes after racing in traffic in early stretch.

A few of the runners in Friday’s feature could return in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby for 3-year-olds on turf Nov. 1, a race that may include Proletariat.

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