San Diego next for optional-claiming winner Draft Pick

ARCADIA, Calif. – Draft Pick won an optional claimer at Santa Anita on Saturday in his first start of the year, and is likely to run in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 20.

Ridden by Joe Talamo, Draft Pick closed from last with a wide rally in a tightly grouped field of four on Saturday to win by a neck over Route Six Six, who finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of King Abner in third. King Abner finished second in the Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park on April 28. For the Top, a Group 1 stakes winner in Argentina last November, finished last in his American debut, beaten only 1 3/4 lengths.

Draft Pick has won 3 of 10 starts and earned $283,480, all for owners Lee and Susan Searing and trainer Peter Eurton.

Eurton said on Sunday that the $200,000 San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles is a logical goal for Draft Pick.

“He’s a big, heavy horse,” Eurton said. “I know how much racing it took to get him where I wanted last year. Hopefully, he’ll be better for this second race.”

A 4-year-old colt, Draft Pick won the Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita in June 2018 and was later second in two Grade 3 races – the Los Alamitos Derby and West Virginia Derby. The West Virginia Derby last August was his final start of the year.

Eurton has two other 4-year-olds aimed for upcoming graded stakes. Core Beliefs, who won the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds in March and was sixth in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27, is a candidate for the San Diego.

Dark Vader, second in two stakes for 3-year-olds last year, is under consideration for the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap, a $300,000 race at 1 1/8 miles on July 5. Dark Vader was second by a head in an optional claimer at a mile on May 24 in his first start this year.