Lammas to stretch out to longest distance yet in allowance
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It was the claiming gamble of the year in California.
On May 11 at Santa Anita, owner Les Blake and trainer Jeff Mullins claimed the 8-year-old Lammas for $80,000 from a one-mile allowance race on turf. Lammas finished fourth that day after a wide trip.
On Saturday, Lammas has his first start for Blake and Mullins in an allowance race at 1 3/8 miles on turf in which veteran gelding is eligible to be claimed for $100,000.
Lammas, a five-time stakes winner, will start at 1 3/8 miles on turf for the first time. He drew the outside post in a field of eight.
Blake said on Thursday that the expensive claim was worth a chance with what he described as “a classy horse.”
“I’m willing to take a shot,” Blake said. “I looked at the form and looked at the numbers and it looked like a good claim.”
Lammas, previously trained by Manny Badilla, is best known for winning the final running of the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on turf at Golden Gate Fields in April 2024. The track closed in June 2024.
This year in Southern California, Lammas has won once in three starts – an allowance race at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on April 5.
In Saturday’s race, Lammas’s chief rivals are Packs a Wahlop, who was second in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes on turf at Santa Anita in May; and Dicey Mo Chara, who makes a quick turnaround following a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar last Sunday.
Blake, who has a background in the tree and shrub nursery business, has runners with several trainers in California as well as with Jonathan Wong in Louisiana. Blake had two winners in a three-day span at Louisiana Downs earlier this month.
Blake said his stable typically numbers 20 runners, and he often does his own scouting, using a variety of methods.
“It’s pretty much everything,” he said of the selection process. “You look at the works, there are quite a few things that look at.”
Despite his expensive price, Lammas may prove to be a productive claim. A successful race at a longer distance on Saturday will provide numerous opportunities through the second half of the year.
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