Mi Hermano Ramon to target Kilroe Mile

Mi Hermano Ramon, winner of the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar in November and fourth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25, is a probable starter in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita on March 1.

Trainer Mark Glatt said on Friday that Mi Hermano Ramon’s status for the Kilroe Mile will be determined by how the 5-year-old gelding trains through February. On Wednesday and Thursday, training at Santa Anita was limited to the infield synthetic track because of rain. Training on that surface was canceled Friday after a tunnel leading from the backstretch to the training track was flooded and power was lost to a drainage pump.

There was no training on the main track from Wednesday through Friday because of wet conditions.

“We’ve been pretty hit or miss the last few days,” Glatt said. “Our intention is to run. I’ll take it right up to entry day.”

Glatt said he wants to have “a good feeling” about Mi Hermano Ramon’s status to start in the $300,000 Kilroe Mile, the richest turf race of Santa Anita’s winter-spring meeting.

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In the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf, Mi Hermano Ramon was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Spirit of St. Louis after racing between rivals at a pivotal time in the final quarter-mile.

It was a different trip than the style of his win in the Seabiscuit or a game second to the multiple stakes winner Johannes in the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

“I think for the most part he ran his race,” Glatt said of the Pegasus World Cup Turf. “He’s not a horse that is going to sit in a pocket, and when it opens up accelerate quickly. The last two times he ran [before the Pegasus World Cup Turf], he had trips when he’d sit and angle to the outside of horses and have his move not be impeded.

“It wasn’t a terrible trip, but it wasn’t a good trip for his style. By the time it did open up, the others that beat him got the jump on him.

“If he’d had a trip similar to his last two starts, I thought he would have been there or might have won the race. It was still very respectable. You’d hope to have a little better luck on a big day for that kind of purse money.”

Owned by Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners, Mi Hermano Ramon has won 4 of 11 starts and earned $402,980. Races since late November have left Glatt hopeful that Mi Hermano Ramon will have an important role in turf stakes this year.

“He’s right there with the top horses locally and maybe nationally on a given day,” Glatt said.

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