Motion sends top contenders in Blue Norther, Eddie Logan
ARCADIA, Calif. – It turns out the weather might cooperate after all on Friday, when Santa Anita runs a pair of $100,000 juvenile turf stakes initially threatened by rain.
Before a surface switch became necessary for the Eddie Logan for 2-year-olds or Blue Norther for fillies, a midweek storm mostly fizzled. Santa Anita racing secretary Chris Merz expects the turf stakes Friday and Saturday to remain on turf.
“We’re feeling fairly confident we can get through the Friday and Saturday card without much of a hiccup on turf,” Merz said. “It looks like Saturday’s weather is pushing more toward evening time, so the plan Saturday is to card the two graded stakes on turf early just in case the rain [arrives early].”
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Saturday, the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez and Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel will be positioned among the first five races. Friday, the nine-race card includes five turf races with two competitive stakes in which trainer Graham Motion and assistant Alice Clapham start likely favorites Nagirroc and G Laurie.
Race 3 is the Eddie Logan; Nagirroc makes his first start since his third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Race 9 is the Blue Norther; where G Laurie finally returns after a troubled third in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine in September. She was scratched from the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf after getting sick. Both races will be run at one mile.
Eddie Logan rivals for Nagirroc include last-out allowance winner Classical Cat, along with stakes-placed Game Time and First Peace.
The complexion of the Logan depends on whether Speed Boat Beach runs.
Speed Boat Beach, a two-time stakes winner on turf, might scratch from the Logan unless it moves to dirt, said trainer Bob Baffert. Baffert originally said he intended to scratch Speed Boat Beach if the race remained on turf, but on Wednesday afternoon said he was "on the fence" regarding Speed Boat Beach. He might run the colt in the Logan, even if the race stays on turf.
Notwithstanding two wins on turf, including a Grade 3, Speed Boat Beach is a faster horse on dirt based on his 104 Beyer maiden win.
Whether he runs or not on Friday, a richer race is on the horizon for Speed Boat Beach.
Baffert will consider sending Speed Boat Beach to the Middle East for the $1.5 million Saudi Derby, a one-turn mile he won last year with Pinehurst.
The scratch of front-runner/presser Speed Boat Beach from the Eddie Logan would soften the pace for early-speed types Classical Cat and Game Time, but Nagirroc remains the one to beat.
Nagirroc won two of his first three starts, all in turf sprints, including a Grade 3, and he was pre-entered in both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and the Juvenile Turf Sprint. It was not an easy call for Motion.
“We labored over which way to go,” the trainer said. “Ultimately, I felt [two turns] is what he wanted to do. But you hate to do that to a horse the first time in a race like the Breeders’ Cup.”
At 39-1 odds, Nagirroc outran every U.S. entrant, finishing third by 2 1/4 lengths. European horses Victoria Road and Silver Knott finished one-two.
“He ran super,” Motion said. “Those European horses are so tough to beat in those races.”
Nagirroc drops in class Friday.
“My one worry is we went easy on him a little bit after the Breeders’ Cup, and he missed a breeze before coming out to California because the weather was so bad [in Maryland],” Motion said. “It hasn’t been perfect, but he should be fit enough.”
Flavien Prat rides Nagirroc, whose main rival might be Classical Cat. After a turf-route allowance win in October, Classical Cat targeted the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille on Dec. 4 at Del Mar but sustained a leg cut that required treatment.
“It was very minor but it was something we had to take care of and he missed the race,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “He’s come back and trained exceptionally well. He’s in a salty race, but I think he fits with those horses.”
Others in the eight-entrant Eddie Logan include Malibu Coast, Ah Jeez and intriguing import Tostado, runner-up last out in Ireland behind a rival who is 5 for 5. The turf rails Friday are at 20 feet.
Eleven fillies will run in the race 9 Blue Norther, and lightly raced G Laurie is the one to beat in her first start since September. A horrible trip compromised her in the Natalma, and then she was scratched from the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.
G Laurie adds blinkers for the Blue Norther.
“My team has always wanted to do that,” Motion said. “She’s not very focused.”
Manny Franco rode her in the Natalma. Motion said the jockey told him, “Had she been a little more focused, it might have been a little easier to get here.”
Juan Hernandez rides G Laurie on Friday.
Others in the Blue Norther include Decorated My Life, third in a Grade 3 in her U.S. debut; Tea N Conversation, a last-out maiden winner; and sprinter Manhattan Jungle.
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