River Boyne, Ohio bring Southern California class to Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile

PHOENIX – It’s going to be difficult for the locals to keep the barbarians at the gate as some high-class Southern California talent comes to Turf Paradise on Saturday for the $75,000 Cotton Fitzsimmons Mile.

The mile grass event, named in honor of the late NBA coach and frequent patron of the Phoenix track, drew a field of 12, headed by multiple Southern California graded stakes winner River Boyne and Southern California Grade 1 winner and defending champ Ohio. Gato Guapo appears the main local hope.

The Fitzsimmons goes as the final race on an eight-race program. Also on the card is the $30,000 Glendale Handicap at a mile on turf (race 5), which drew a field of 12.

River Boyne, owned by Red Barons Barn LLC and trained by Jeff Mullins, is the second highweight at 125 pounds, one shy of Ohio’s 126-pound assignment. A Grade 2 and Grade 3 winner in Southern California in 2018, River Boyne was winless in seven starts in 2019 but faced some of the best turf milers in the land. He comes off a sharp third in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit on Nov. 30 at Del Mar, beaten just a half-length. To give you an idea of that race’s strength, the top two finishers, Next Shares and Sacred Life, are targeting the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream.

River Boyne did get the worst of the draw for the Cotton Fitzsimmons, landing the outside post.

Ohio, a 9-year-old gelded son of Elusive Quality owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Bruce Treitman and trained by Mike McCarthy, romped by 6 1/2 lengths in last year’s renewal of this race. Just more than two months later, he won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita. He comes here off a second in the Grade 3 Berkeley on Golden Gate’s synthetic track on Nov. 30.

Gato Guapo, a 5-year-old gelded son of Factum owned by Charles Garvey and trained by Robertino Diodoro, ran third in this race last year and comes off three wins in his last four starts.

An interesting entrant is the terrific dirt horse Mr. Jagermeister. The 5-year-old horse, owned by Valorie Lund, Kristin Boice, and Leslie Cummings and trained by Lund, has run on turf just once, finishing 10th in a stakes at Canterbury Park in 2018. This marks his first start since fading to sixth in a sprint stakes on Nov. 2 at Churchill, but he’s worked lights out of late, including a sharp three-furlong move on this turf course Monday.

◗ Chance to Shine and Pride’s Gold share the 120-pound highweight assignment in the Glendale. Chance to Shine has won both career turf starts and moves back to turf after a fourth in a dirt stakes here Dec. 29, while Pride’s Gold is winless in six turf starts and comes off a seventh in a stakes on Golden Gate’s synthetic track Dec. 15.

Saburai could be poised to upset off a win over restricted claimers on Del Mar turf on Nov. 15.