Mullins owns top billing in Cinema

Trainer Jeff Mullins holds a strong hand in the $150,000 Cinema Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita with Hariboux and K P All Systems Go, both of whom won their last start over the local turf course. They figure to be the top two choices among a field of seven 3-year-olds in the 1 1/8-mile grass race.

Hariboux was last seen winning the Pasadena on Feb. 29, the form of which was flattered when the runner-up, Smooth Like Strait, came back to score a resounding victory in the War Chant at Churchill Downs on May 23. The Pasadena was the fifth win in 10 starts for Hariboux, but he’s never raced beyond a mile.

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So while the extra furlong will be a question for Hariboux, it poses no such problem for K P All Systems Go, who beat maidens at that distance on Jan. 25 and then returned to defeat a first-level allowance field going one mile on March 20. Both those victories coincided with Mullins switching riders to Abel Cedillo and outfitting K P All Systems Go in an outside extension blinker that he had worn in workouts.

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“He wanted to drift all the time,” Mullins said Thursday morning. “We put it on and he fired both times. I know he won’t have any problem with the distance. He’ll come running if there’s pace.”

There should be a fair pace. Heywoods Beach, who drew the rail, set lively fractions when leading from start to finish against older maidens May 16, and the longshot Constitutionaffair is usually forwardly placed.

The pace could be even more critical for Hariboux, as mile races unfold at a quicker tempo than 1 1/8-mile races. If the pace is moderate, it could negate the impact of his late kick.

“He’s doing well. He’s an honest little horse,” said Mullins, who said the initial uncertainty over when racing was going to resume at Santa Anita after it was suspended in March caused him to be “off and on the gas here.”

“I backed off in the middle of all this. We’re just getting going again,” he said.

Club Aspen, third in the Pasadena, Liar Liar, and the maiden Dominant Soul – who gets Lasix for the first time – also are entered.

The Cinema is race 9 on the 11-race card.

Filly vs. males in Desert Code

She’s So Special has thrived in turf sprints, and will seek her third win in four starts in that context in the $75,000 Desert Code for 3-year-olds Saturday at Santa Anita.

The 5 1/2-furlong race is the fourth on the 11-race card and includes five males, two of whom She’s So Special defeated at this distance May 15 in an optional claimer in which she could have been taken for $80,000. She has won both her turf sprints at Santa Anita, and was second in a turf sprint last fall at Del Mar.

Her trainer, Peter Miller, also has the comebacking El Tigre Terrible, who won his lone turf sprint last fall at Santa Anita to run his overall record to 3 for 5. He has been training at San Luis Rey Downs, where three of his last four drills were the best of the morning at the distance.

Rookie Mistake, a turf sprint winner in March, and Thanks Mr Eidson, third behind She’s So Special on May 15 in his grass debut when making his first start in nine months, also rate strong chances in the Desert Code.