Pace scenario makes Unusual Heat a tossup
ARCADIA, Calif. – The final California-bred stakes race Saturday at Santa Anita could have been be a layup for the best horse on the card, but instead the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic is an inscrutable raffle in which anything goes.
Seven-time stakes winner The Chosen Vron would be the class of the field, possibly lone speed, in the 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic, race 10 and the final leg in the mandatory-payout pick six. However, The Chosen Vron cross-entered two stakes races Saturday, and he is expected to run earlier in the $150,000 California Cup Sprint, race 1.
That leaves eight older horses for the Turf Classic, including 2022 winner Aligato, two-time stakes winner Carmelita’s Man, and stakes-placed Coalinga Road, Bang for Your Buck, and Royal ’n Rando. Doc Adams, Kings River Knight, and Luvluv also entered.
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Due to uncertain footing and a murky pace scenario in the Turf Classic, pick six bettors may need to go deep. The course is likely to be less than firm after a rainy week in Arcadia. Furthermore, the Turf Classic lacks a true pacesetter, a role The Chosen Vron could fill if he did not run earlier in the Cal Cup Sprint.
Aligato won the Turf Classic last year in his fifth career start, but his campaign ended with an unspecified setback. When the gelding resumed workouts in summer, trainer Mark Glatt targeted the Turf Classic as his winter objective, with two starts leading in.
Glatt said he was “certainly happy with his first race back. It was a little short for him and he ran into some good horses.” Aligato finished fourth in a California-bred turf sprint stakes won by The Chosen Vron. It was an ideal comeback for Aligato, who was expected to improve second start back stretching to a route. He did not improve.
Aligato finished fourth as the favorite in an entry-level allowance turf route.
“He’s an older horse, he’s just maybe rounding into form, and this is his third race off the bench,” Glatt said. Glass half-full. “We’re hopeful he’s back to where he was last year at this time. It looks like a very winnable race if he can run the same race he ran last year.”
Flavien Prat rides Aligato and Juan Hernandez rides Carmelita’s Man, who won California-bred turf stakes in May and August for trainer Dean Pederson. He finished fourth in a minor stakes race in his most recent start on Oct. 29.
“We gave him a little time off after his last race at Santa Anita with the idea of not running at Del Mar,” Pederson said. “He fits with the Cal-breds. He doesn’t run too many bad races. His bad races aren’t bad races when you dive into them.”
Carmelita’s Man has won 7 of 21.
A tepid pace could be set by either Doc Adams or Bang for Your Buck. Kings River Knight should be forwardly placed in a race that appears wide open.
–additional reporting by Steve Andersen