Mesut, El Tovar need pace help in turf sprint
ARCADIA, Calif. – January was kind to speed on the Santa Anita hill – pacesetters had won seven of 12 turf sprints on firm through Sunday.
The speed-friendly profile is only one challenge that confronts the closers Mesut and El Tovar in the featured seventh race Friday. Mesut also faces a class test, his first start against winners following a maiden victory; El Tovar is habitually slow from the gate.
The plus side is that Mesut and El Tovar share a key attribute – proven form on a tricky course. Mesut scored an impressive maiden downhill victory last out; El Tovar has won four races on the hill.
“He loves the hill,” El Tovar’s trainer, Richard Baltas, said. “He always runs good down the hill and still has his one-other-than” condition.
El Tovar’s downhill wins were maiden, starter, California-bred allowance, and claiming. Rafael Bejarano rides the pace-dependent 9-year-old.
“They need to go quick up front,” Baltas said.
Baltas also starts Radio Silence, a “morning glory” who was gelded following his most recent start.
“He wants to run off a little bit. He doesn’t want to settle,” Baltas said. “That’s another reason we’re running 6 1/2 [furlongs] down the hill – he wants to get rank.”
As for Mesut, he was gelded before he ran. Trainer Carla Gaines did not have a choice.
“He was a very bad stud. All the time, he wanted to walk on his hind legs, striking the air,” she said.
Mesut once flipped over backward and fractured his withers.
“He was out for six months with that; that’s why he’s such a late bloomer,” Gaines said.
Mesut has raced three times; his impressive maiden victory last out under his rider, Evin Roman, suggests a successful transition to a first-level allowance despite the course profile.
The Friday field includes the front-runner Incensed, one of the favorites after missing by a nose in a similar turf sprint; What’sontheagenda, a speedy comebacker; and the front-runner/pace-presser Little Juanito. Drummer, Rigoletto, and Ky. Colonel also entered.
