Prat, Baltas look to extend fortune with favorites
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ARCADIA, Calif. – An extended race week at Santa Anita concludes Monday, Presidents Day, with a nuts-and-bolts 10-race program split between turf and dirt.
The turf course may still be drying out Monday after heavy rain soaked Arcadia late in the week. The five turf races Monday include the most probable winner on the card in race 4, a statebred allowance for 3-year-olds in race 8, and a low-odds maiden favorite in race 10.
Race 4, a six-furlong starter allowance for 3-year-old fillies on turf, features potential standout Prime and Ready. She dominated a $50,000 maiden-claiming turf sprint last out, has worked well since, and is comfortably drawn outside in the seven-horse field.
Beyond the fact that Prime and Ready is the field’s fastest turf filly, trainer Richard Baltas and jockey Flavien Prat entered the week having won with four straight favorites. The combo’s win rate with favorites over the past five years is 47 percent (26 for 55).
Spotted Haze is a threat based on her runaway debut. She won a $50,000 maiden-claiming dirt sprint by six lengths and earned the same Beyer Speed Figure on dirt, 59, that Prime and Ready earned on turf. Spotted Haze’s pedigree is fine for turf, as progeny of Stanford have won 18 percent of their turf sprints.
Race 8 on Monday is the feature, a 6 1/2-furlong turf race for California-bred 3-year-olds in which last-out runner-up Cali Cat and class dropper King of Dragons figure to dominate the wagering.
Cali Cat had been off for three months when he returned Jan. 19 in a six-furlong California-bred allowance on turf. He lost by a nose to Triple Diamonds, a contender Sunday in the $100,000 Baffle Stakes. John Sadler trains Cali Cat, who benefits from the additional half-furlong Monday, and Prat rides him back.
King of Dragons drops in class out of a turf mile stakes that unfolded wrong when he was trapped behind a walking pace. The half-mile was a dawdling 51.16 seconds, with six furlongs in 1:15.02. King of Dragons was rated, tossed his head while rank, and sputtered to finish sixth.
The class drop and a distance cutback from a mile to a sprint should benefit King of Dragons. Hard-pulling route horses often respond to shorter distances because they do not need to be rated. Richard Baltas trains King of Dragons, whose rider is Antonio Fresu.
The favorite in race 10, Sabertooth, could be the most heavily backed runner on the card. He has placed in three stakes and enters Monday’s finale with the highest speed figures in a full field. The last two times Sabertooth faced maidens, he finished second as the overwhelming favorite.
An upset candidate is Shapoval, a closing third in his debut at six furlongs. Two turns should be in his wheelhouse. Also-eligible Miles Finch, in the money in all three starts, would add blinkers if he draws into the race, while Fix It Quick stretches out with two sprints under his belt.
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