Moger to move stable to Santa Anita for first time

Trainer Ed Moger Jr., a mainstay in Northern California for decades, will have a majority of his 40-horse stable at Santa Anita in Southern California this winter for the first time.

Moger said on Monday that the decision was prompted partially by a severe purse cut at Golden Gate Fields, announced earlier this month that takes effect with the opening of the track’s winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.

Golden Gate Fields is scheduled to be closed permanently at the conclusion of the season on June 9. Overnight purses at Golden Gate Fields have been slashed 25 percent because of a purse overpayment in excess of $3 million.

Moger said he will leave a 15-horse stable at Golden Gate Fields this winter.

“We’ll have a barn at Santa Anita,” he said. “It’s time for change.”

Moger’s team will include a familiar name in Stilleto Boy, who won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap last March, and has made 14 of his last 18 starts in Southern California since being acquired in the summer of 2021.

Stilleto Boy, unraced since he finished last of nine in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Sept. 30, is scheduled to start in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.

Stilleto Boy, owned by Moger’s brother, Steve, was second in the 2022 San Antonio Stakes.

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