Mandella to use California Crown to decide Subsanador's Breeders' Cup race

Subsanador, winner of the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park last Saturday, is booked to run in the Grade 1 California Crown at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, a race that will help to determine plans for the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 2

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Wednesday that the BC Dirt Mile and BC Classic at 1 1/4 miles are possibilities for Subsanador.

“Right now, I wouldn’t know which would be better,” Mandella said. “We’ll see how the next race goes.”

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Owned by Wathnan Racing, Subsanador won for the first time in the United States in the $248,500 Iselin at 1 1/16 miles, the 5-year-old Argentine-bred horse’s fourth start in this country.

Earlier this year, Subsanador was second by a head in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, but a well-beaten fourth in the Hollywood Gold Cup on May 27. Those races were run at 1 1/4 miles.

A scheduled start in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 27 was abandoned after Subsanador was given the incorrect medication on the day of the race, resulting in a scratch.

The $1 million California Crown was previously known as the Awesome Again Stakes, and had a purse of $300,000 in recent years.

Santa Anita’s parent company, 1/ST Racing, has boosted the purse for the race, and two others on the same day, in an effort to develop a major day of racing that will lure a substantial crowd similar to the Pegasus World Cup program in late January at Gulfstream Park, another of the company’s tracks. Aside from racing, there are extensive music and food promotions at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.

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