Knapp's stable to have big presence at Los Alamitos meet
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Mares such as Fried Asparagus will determine what trainer Steve Knapp can accomplish at the three-week Los Angeles County Fair meeting that begins on Friday at Los Alamitos.
Knapp predicted on Wednesday that he will have approximately 15 runners at Los Alamitos in coming weeks, taking advantage of a dirt racing program to pad the statistics of his stable, which has won 34 races this year.
“We’ll try to spot them aggressively and run where they belong,” Knapp said.
Last year, Knapp had 36 wins. At the current pace, he could easily threaten a career-best of 62 victories set in 2005.
Fried Asparagus starts Friday in an allowance race for California-bred fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs, the fifth race on an eight-race program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific.
The program is the first of nine days of racing through July 9. Racing will be held on a Friday-through-Sunday schedule this weekend, from Saturday through Tuesday from July 1-4, and on Saturday and Sunday on the final weekend, July 8-9.
Saturday’s $100,000 Bertrando Stakes for statebred milers is the first of three stakes during the brief meeting. The Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes, a $200,000 race for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs, will be run on July 4 and is the richest race of the season.
The $125,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles on July 8 is expected to include Skinner, who was third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in April in his most recent start.
Stakes purses are the same as corresponding meeting in 2022, but overnight purses are lower. The allowance race that includes Fried Asparagus is worth $47,000, down from $51,000 last summer. A $20,000 claimer for maiden sprinters will be worth $20,000 this summer compared to $23,000 last year.
Fried Asparagus, owned by Thomsen Racing, was claimed for $50,000 at Del Mar last September when she won a maiden race for statebred fillies and mares at six furlongs in her debut. Winless in her last five starts, Fried Asparagus was a troubled second, beaten five lengths, when ridden by jockey Tiago Pereira in a $32,000 claimer for non-winners of two at 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on June 11.
Fried Asparagus was never going to challenge easy winner Essential Business, but could have been closer without racing in traffic on the backstretch.
“She got in tight and he had to grab her twice,” Knapp said on Wednesday. “She came running down the lane.”
Fried Asparagus is part of a field of six that includes the stakes-placed Big Novel, who is trained by John Sadler for owner and breeder George Krikorian.
Big Novel has not raced since she finished eighth of 11 in an allowance race at Santa Anita last December. She underwent a throat operation to improve her breathing following that loss, Sadler said.
Friday’s race is a prep for the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins on July 21.
“We decided rather than to work her into Del Mar we’d get a race in her and go to Del Mar,” Sadler said. “Her form is good.”
A winner of 2 of 10 starts, the 4-year-old Big Novel has been second or third in five stakes for statebred fillies and mares since the summer of 2021. By Mr. Big, Big Novel won a maiden race on dirt in 2021 and an allowance race on turf in 2022.
“We have a lot of versatility with the Mr. Bigs,” Sadler said. “We’ll have choices.”
Big Novel and Fried Asparagus are expected to chase pacesetter Feeling Grazeful, who has not raced since she finished last of four in the Irish O’Brien Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs on dirt at Santa Anita in March.
Feeling Grazeful, trained by Anthony Saavedra, was a game second in a race at this level in January at Santa Anita.
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