San Onofre seeks back-to-back stakes wins in Kona Gold
ARCADIA, Calif. – Before he made his stakes debut last year, San Onofre won four consecutive races in the winter of 2013-14, beating maidens and winning allowance races or optional claimers.
Compiling back-to-back wins in stakes has been more difficult.
San Onofre has won two of eight starts in stakes since early 2015, including the Grade 3 Los Angeles at Los Alamitos on April 16. A win in Saturday’s $200,000 Kona Gold Stakes at Santa Anita would be the first time the 6-year-old gelding has won consecutive stakes.
Conditions of the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs favor San Onofre, who races for Aase Headley and is trained by her daughter, Karen. San Onofre is a stalker who drew the outside post in a 10-horse field.
The Kona Gold is the ninth race on an 11-race program that begins at noon Pacific. San Onofre is one of five stakes winners in the field, along with Coastline, Sahara Sky, Subtle Indian, and Wild Dude. The Kona Gold will be the California debut of Subtle Indian, who has won four consecutive races, including the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 10.
The race is named for the champion sprinter of 2000, who was trained by Bruce Headley, Aase’s husband and Karen’s father.
◗ Swift Lady, a 3-year-old filly trained by Bob Baffert, will have her first start against older fillies and mares in the $75,000 Mizdirection Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
Swift Lady has won three consecutive starts but has not raced since winning the Sweet Life Stakes on the hillside turf course in February. Swift Lady is quick and must hold off a late threat from Miss Double d’Oro, a 4-year-old who won the Arboretum Stakes on the hillside in March.
Kona Gold, Race 9
KEY CONTENDERS
San Onofre, by Surf Cat
Last 3 Beyers: 99-74-83
◗ Second to Masochistic in the 2015 Kona Gold, San Onofre can win his third stakes of 2016 on Saturday. He won the Grade 3 Midnight Lute Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs here on Jan. 2 but was fourth in the California Cup Sprint on Jan. 30 and last of eight in the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes on March 12.
◗ In the Los Angeles Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs, San Onofre was fitted with blinkers for the first time and closed from third in a field of five to win by a length over Wild Dude, who is part of the Kona Gold field. The blinkers will stay on for the Kona Gold, Karen Headley said.
“I was very happy with that race,” she said. “The blinkers helped. He’ll run well, I think.”
Subtle Indian, by Indian Charlie
Last 3 Beyers: 101-96-102
◗ Owned by Mercedes Stable, Subtle Indian has won 7 of 9 starts and earned $500,300. A 4-year-old gelding, Subtle Indian was unbeaten in four starts at Oaklawn Park from mid-January to mid-April, leading throughout the races.
“I keep saying the horse is getting better and better,” trainer Robertino Diodoro said. “He is fast. It may take him a step or two to get rolling, but he’s fast.”
◗ Ramon Vazquez, currently riding at Prairie Meadows in Iowa, has ridden Subtle Indian in his last three starts and will ride at Santa Anita for the first time Saturday. In the Count Fleet Sprint at six furlongs April 10, Subtle Indian led by 1 1/2 lengths early and pulled way to win by 3 3/4 lengths, finishing in 1:08.80.
Wild Dude, by Wildcat Heir
Last 3 Beyers: 96-84-98
Wild Dude was second as the even-money favorite in the Los Angeles Stakes. A winner of two Grade 1 sprints last year, the Bing Crosby at Del Mar and the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, Wild Dude is a threat from off the pace for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.