Santa Anita: Chips All In no morning glory

ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s a good thing the 3-year-old colt Chips All In is a better racehorse than he is work horse.

The two-time stakes winner worked seven furlongs in 1:29 at Santa Anita on Saturday, a slow time that would send some trainers into a panic. Not Jeff Mullins, who timed the colt in 1:30.80. Mullins considers Chips All In to be a candidate for Saturday’s $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/16 miles, and was not concerned about the slow workout time.

“He doesn’t tell you much in the morning,” Mullins said. “You can put him with another horse and watch him work, but he’s not a good work horse.”

Owned by a partnership, Chips All In won the Gold Rush Futurity at Arapahoe Park in Colorado last August and the Eddie Logan Stakes over a mile on turf here on Dec. 31. Mullins said the colt has been nominated for the Triple Crown, which makes a key Santa Anita Derby prep such as the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/16 miles a more important race.

“If they’re going to consider it, we’ll have to consider a graded stakes on the dirt,” Mullins said. “This might be the time.”

A colt by North Light, Chips All In has won 4 of 5 starts and $149,800. His only loss was a second in the Golden Nugget Stakes over six furlongs at Golden Gate Fields on Nov. 12, his first start for the current partnership and Mullins.

In the Robert Lewis, Chips All In faces several of the top 3-year-olds based in California, notably Liaison and Rousing Sermon, the first two finishers of the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity on Dec. 17. Other candidates are Sky Kingdom and Empire Way, who were fourth and fifth in the CashCall; Groovin’ Solo, a maiden race winner here on Dec. 30; and I’ll Have Another, unraced since a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga in September.

I’ll Have Another is trained by Doug O’Neill, who said on Friday that Basmati, the runner-up in the Delta Jackpot Stakes in Louisiana in November, has been turned out with an ankle injury.

Owned by Zillah Reddam, Basmati is expected to be sidelined for three or four months, an injury that rules him out of the Triple Crown. Basmati has 1 victory in 8 starts and earnings of $278,800.

Include Me Out headed for Santa Margarita

Include Me Out, who won her first stakes in the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes on Jan. 22, will make her next start in the $300,000 Santa Margarita Stakes on March 17, trainer Ron Ellis said.

The 4-year-old Include Me Out will miss the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes on Feb. 18, he said.

“She’ll probably skip [the Santa Maria] and point for the Santa Margarita,” Ellis said. “She’s run a lot. She’s not a real big filly.”

For the Santa Maria, Ellis is considering Vision in Gold, who finished a dull sixth as the 9-10 favorite in the Paseana Handicap on Jan. 15. For Vision in Gold, winner of the 2011 Santa Maria, the Paseana was her first start since a third in the 2011 Santa Margarita.

“I think I had her short,” Ellis said. “I was a little too confident in her. She’s taken a few races to come around in the past.”

Both Include Me Out and Vision in Gold are owned by Samantha Siegel.