Santa Anita: Clubhouse Ride has three options for next start
ARCADIA, Calif. – Clubhouse Ride is running in a stakes at Santa Anita on March 8, and there is no shortage of races to choose from.
“I can say with certainty he is going to run that day,” trainer Craig Lewis said.
A decision on which race may not be made until next Wednesday, when entries are due. Lewis has three options for the 6-year-old horse – the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on dirt, the $350,000 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf, and the $250,000 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs on dirt.
“That’s the beauty of this horse: He can run on any surface over any distance,” Lewis said.
As of Thursday, Lewis was leaning away from the Big Cap, a race in which Clubhouse Ride was a well-beaten second last year. At this time last year, Clubhouse Ride had made two starts at the meeting, finishing second in an optional claimer and the San Antonio Stakes.
This year, Clubhouse Ride has had one start, a fifth-place finish in the Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course last Sunday.
A factor in whether to run in the Big Cap will be the weight assignments, which will be published on Sunday. Lewis is concerned that Clubhouse Ride does not have a sufficient foundation to be ready for the Big Cap. Complicating matters is the presence of Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge, the first two finishers in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last November and the top-ranked older males in the nation.
“We lost a lot of time with his feet,” Lewis said. “I don’t have a lot of bottom with him to take on that caliber of horses.”
Clubhouse Ride has won 4 of 32 starts and earned $995,994 for owners Six-S Racing Stable and Nikolas Petralia. After the 2013 Big Cap, Clubhouse Ride made six more starts, highlighted by a win in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes last June. He was taken out of training last fall after a fourth-place finish in the Ralph Hinds Pomona Invitational at the Los Angeles County Fair.
In the Hernandez Stakes, Clubhouse Ride was beaten 3 3/4 lengths by the winner, Sweet Swap.
“He finished with interest,” Lewis said. “We let him gallop out.”
The decision on where to run March 8 will be based partially on his training. Rain fell in Southern California early Thursday and more is expected through Saturday.
“If the weather is good, I’d like to work him,” Lewis said. “I might gallop him up to a race.”
The March 8 program has five stakes, including the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and the $75,000 China Doll Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf.
The San Felipe is a major prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5. Stakes winners California Chrome and Midnight Hawk and stakes-placed Kristo are expected to head the field.