Quick Casablanca should relish lengthened Last Tycoon
ARCADIA, Calif. – Distance races have defined the career of Quick Casablanca, first in South America, where the horse was bred, and in the United States in the last two years.
Last year, during the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, Quick Casablanca won the Grade 3 Last Tycoon Stakes, finished third in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes, and was second in the Grade 2 San Juan Capistrano Stakes, all races at 1 1/8 miles or farther on turf.
The same races are goals for Quick Casablanca this year, and the calendar better suits the 7-year-old.
Saturday’s $100,000 Last Tycoon Stakes is now 1 1/4 miles, a furlong farther than last year. The $200,000 Whittingham Stakes on May 24 is 1 1/2 miles, a quarter-mile farther than in 2014. The $150,000 San Juan Capistrano remains at its traditional distance of about 1 3/4 miles on June 28.
Owned by Pablo Gomez, Quick Casablanca was eighth in the Thunder Road Stakes at a mile April 4, his first start since the 2014 San Juan Capistrano. The loss did not discourage trainer Ron McAnally.
“About the time he got started, the race was over,” he said. “He probably needed his last start.”
Quick Casablanca missed the final months of 2014 after being cast in his stall at Del Mar last summer, McAnally said.
Gary Stevens will ride Quick Casablanca in the Last Tycoon, which drew a field of eight. The contenders include Power Foot, third in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on March 21; Ganesh, a three-time stakes winner in Argentina last year who was fifth in the Thunder Road in his American debut; and Big John B, unraced since a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf here last November.
On Wednesday, Quick Casablanca had his final major tune-up, a five-furlong workout in 1:00.60.
McAnally plans to run the multiple Argentine Group 1 winner Galicado in the $100,000 Precisionist Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt May 2. Galicado was fourth in the Santana Mile on March 29 in his American debut. On Wednesday, Galicado worked six furlongs in 1:11.40.
“He worked in company, and that really made a difference,” McAnally said.
The Precisionist Stakes lacks a standout and will better define the California older-male division in the coming months.
Shared Belief, who won the San Antonio Stakes and Santa Anita Handicap this year, is out of training with a hip injury. California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, has not raced in California since finishing second in the San Antonio and is currently in England being prepared for a springtime campaign on turf.