Margot's Boy looks to get back on winning track in Unusual Heat Turf Classic
ARCADIA, Calif. – Margot’s Boy, the 5-year-old gelding, is stuck in a 17-race losing streak since May 2020, a time when Santa Anita had just resumed racing after a forced hiatus at the start of the pandemic.
The losing streak includes a second by a head in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby in September of that year, a head loss in an allowance race at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Del Mar last August, and a neck loss in an allowance race at a mile on dirt at Los Alamitos on Dec. 4.
Those narrow setbacks have been a consolation for owner and breeder Sonny Pais and trainer Craig Lewis as Margot’s Boy nears his next start in Saturday’s $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic for California-breds at Santa Anita.
“He runs every time and he makes money,” Lewis said on Sunday. “He’s a pretty nice horse. It just hasn’t gone his way.”
The loss at Los Alamitos last month was a stinger. Margot’s Boy rallied wide, led by a half-length in the long stretch, and was beaten by Vittorio, who is entered in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Friday.
“I think he was a little unlucky,” Lewis said. “He ran well.”
The Unusual Heat Turf Classic, run at 1 1/8 miles, is Margot’s Boy’s first start in a stakes since a fifth at 28-1 in the California Dreamin’ Stakes for statebreds at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar in July. Margot’s Boy followed that loss with the narrow defeat in the Del Mar allowance race at 1 3/8 miles.
:: Join DRF Bets and play the races with a $250 First Deposit Bonus. Click to learn more.
Margot’s Boy, who has won 3 of 21 starts and earned $260,946, tends to run as a stalker and will have close aim on his top rival in Acclimate.
A three-time graded stakes winner, Acclimate was second by a length in the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 26. Acclimate is expected to set the pace in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic.
“Acclimate is a very tough horse in that spot,” Lewis said.
Lewis has runners in three of the five stakes for statebreds at Santa Anita on Saturday.
The seven-time stakes winner Warren’s Showtime starts as a contender in the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. Warren’s Showtime won the California Distaff on the hillside in her first career start on the course in October.
Brickyard Ride, owned and bred by Pais, is scheduled to start in the $150,000 California Cup Sprint, a race he won in 2021. Brickyard Ride, who has not raced since August, later won the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs in March of 2021.