Rain cancellations lead to stacked weekday card

ARCADIA, Calif. – An upside to the rain cancellations this winter at Santa Anita materializes Thursday with a normally mundane weekday card that looks instead like a strong weekend card.

Santa Anita canceled or postponed six programs during the first two weeks of the season, including four last week, which produced a backlog of stakes and turf races. The result is a Thursday make-up card highlighted by the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel and $100,000 Eddie Logan, both on turf.

The stakes were initially scheduled for Dec. 28, then postponed to Dec. 31. When that card was canceled, Santa Anita rescheduled the stakes for Thursday and redrew the fields. The Logan, a turf mile for 3-year-olds that will go as race 3, features the seven original entrants, led by Grade 1-placed Stark Contrast and Grade 1-placed Plutarch.

But the complexion of the Frankel, race 7, has changed. Two original entrants did not reenter. Three new entrants include the supplemented Willa T, the likely pacesetter in a 1 1/8-mile turf race that’s short on speed. Public Assembly was the original favorite last week and will be again on Thursday.

:: Santa Anita Classic Meet! Get DRF Past Performances, Clocker Reports, and more.

Runner-up last out in the Grade 3 Red Carpet at Del Mar and a Grade 3 winner last year at Santa Anita, Public Assembly shortens to 1 1/8 miles after missing by a neck in a 1 3/8-mile race won by Mrs. Astor. Like every other runner in the Frankel, Public Assembly had to wait out the storm. The Frankel will be run 11 days after it was originally scheduled.

“I don’t think [postponing] was a big deal with her,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “I think an extra week helps her. And she likes these turf courses, especially Santa Anita, that have a little moisture in the ground.”

The severity of moisture will depend on the amount of wind and sun after the latest storm, which was expected to subside on Monday. Public Assembly was ridden in her last seven starts by Antonio Fresu, but he was injured Dec. 28. Umberto Rispoli is Public Assembly’s new rider.

Rispoli breezed Public Assembly on the training track Jan. 3, and D’Amato believes conditions are made to order for the Frankel.

“A nice, lush turf course only helps her,” D’Amato said. “Nice and thick, that’s the way she likes it.”

D’Amato also starts Sun Of Hill, a Group 1 winner from Brazil who is winless in 11 U.S. starts. Son Of Hill will ship to Kentucky to be bred after the Frankel. Beaten less than two lengths by Public Assembly last out, late-runner Son Of Hill merits a longshot look under Kazushi Kimura.

Paradise Lake, third to Public Assembly last out in the Red Carpet, benefits by the cutback to 1 1/8 miles. She won her last two starts at the distance in allowance races.

Willa T, who was not nominated to the Frankel nor entered when the race was drawn for Dec. 31, was supplemented for $2,000. She won her last three starts against maiden-claiming and starter-allowance company, and she could be loose on the lead under Hector Berrios.

Others in the Frankel include Ima Joker, Hannah Buckle, late supplement Starry Night, and Watchtower.

:: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!

In the Eddie Logan, Stark Contrast is expected to start favored based on his victory in the Grade 3 Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita and runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. Michael McCarthy trains Stark Contrast, whose rider is Kimura. Stark Contrast could set the pace in a race otherwise void of speed.

Plutarch moves up following a smashing maiden win at Del Mar. He previously finished second in the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf and third in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes on dirt at Santa Anita. Bob Baffert trains Plutarch, whose rider is Juan Hernandez.

Others in the Logan include Brigante, Iriseach, Unrivaled Time, Caro Buono, and Third Beer.

The undercard is filled with quality. In race 4, a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs, first-time starter Feisty Red Head, by Curlin, looms an upset candidate based on solid workouts for trainer Mark Glatt.

“I don’t know how quick she is,” Glatt warned, though he said jockey Mike Smith “has worked her a few times, and he feels like she’s snappy enough to win sprinting. I think from an ability standpoint, she’ll run well, but she probably wants to go a bit farther.”

Cherry Cider returns to dirt and adds Lasix, while first-time starters Red Cherry and French Blue appear to have trained well.

Race 5 is a second-level allowance turf sprint for fillies and mares in which the Robert Falcone-trained, 3-for-3 front-runner Gratefully is the speed of the speed. Bit’s Tiger Magic is re-equipped with blinkers and could provide pace pressure. Longshot late-runner Donttellourwives will rally late.

– additional reporting by Steve Andersen

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.