Santa Anita fall meet opens with stakes gratification delayed to weekend

ARCADIA, Calif. – A decades-long tradition ends quietly Friday at Santa Anita. For the first time this century, opening day of the autumn meet is without a graded stakes.

It is nothing to quibble over, considering the upcoming schedule. After all, it is Breeders’ Cup prep season, and 13 of the 16 stakes the next two weekends at Santa Anita have potential Breeders’ Cup ramifications.

Still, opening day without a stakes is different.

“Originally, we weren’t thinking about running Friday; we planned to start Saturday,” racing secretary Chris Merz said. “To maximize the weekend, we decided to do a blowout kind of weekend.”

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A blowout it will be, even without several top horses. The Grade 1 Awesome Again on Saturday includes Country Grammer, Express Train and Tripoli, but Flightline is training into the BC Classic. Also on Saturday, the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile includes Beyond Brilliant, but will be without prominent turf milers Count Again (done for the season), Smooth Like Strait (in Kentucky for a Grade 1), and Hong Kong Harry (waiting for Del Mar fall).

Saturday’s card also includes the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship. The comebacker Forbidden Kingdom runs, while American Theorem will skip the race to go fresh into the BC Sprint. The Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship includes Gold Phoenix; Master Piece will wait for the BC Turf. The Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes includes Gregorian Chant, Air Force Red, and Lane Way; Lieutenant Dan won’t run and starts next in the BC Turf Sprint.

An unfortunate consequence of summer BC Challenge races is their effect on fall stakes.

“That kind of hurts us, the Win and You’re ins,” Merz said. “Once they get in, they shut everything down and go fresh into the Breeders’ Cup.”

In addition to BC Challenge winners Flightline (Classic), American Theorem (Sprint) and Lieutenant Dan (Turf Sprint), Blue Stripe (Distaff) and Laurel River (Dirt Mile) also will train into the BC.

The four stakes Sunday include the Grade 2 Zenyatta, which is not likely to influence the BC Distaff. Soothsay runs; Blue Stripe and Desert Dawn do not. The Grade 2 Chillingworth for filly-mare sprinters may include 2021 BC Filly and Mare Sprint winner Ce Ce. The $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes is a BC Challenge for the Juvenile Turf Sprint; Speed Boat Beach, 104-Beyer debut winner, could be favored. The Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup is a dirt marathon.

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Meanwhile, there is a significant tweak to the autumn schedule. Santa Anita will race through the Nov. 4-6 Breeders’ Cup weekend at Keeneland, but the final stakes of the Santa Anita meet come a week earlier – a seven-stakes extravaganza on Oct. 29, the Saturday before the Breeders’ Cup.

“We looked around the country, and there’s nothing going on,” Merz said of that Saturday. “We thought, why not us? Let’s take a shot, and maybe we can have a little niche.”

The Oct. 29 lineup is comprised of the Grade 2 Twilight Derby, Grade 2 Goldikova, and Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes, along with four ungraded stakes: the $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy, $80,000 Lure, and a pair of $175,000 Cal-bred sprints at seven furlongs – the Golden State Juvenile and Golden State Juvenile Fillies.

The fall meet ends on Sunday, Nov. 6. Closing day will have mandatory payout for the 20-cent jackpot pick six.

Friday’s opening-day card is quiet, lacking the traditional opening-day Eddie D turf sprint. Field sizes Friday are small. The nine-race card attracted 62 entrants.

Key races Friday include race 3, a second-level allowance turf sprint on the downhill turf course. Main contenders include route-to-sprint Freedom Flyer, course specialist Stella Noir, and comeback front-runner Bulletproof One.

Freedom Flyer’s trainer, Leonard Powell, believes she will benefit by the shorter trip.

“Distance has been a limitation for her,” he said. “The last sixteenth, the last eighth, she just stays there. Six and a half could be up her alley.”

Race 7 is a main-oval turf sprint for maiden 2-year-olds and includes the U.S. debut of Gaelic Nation, who exits a productive race in Ireland. He faces Kid Azteca and second-time starter First Peace. Gaelic Nation’s trainer is George Papaprodomou, who entered runners in six races Friday, including low-odds standout Conundrum in race 4.

Race 8 Friday is a first-level allowance sprint in which late-runner Redline is the likely favorite. Runner-up in a pair of highly rated allowance sprints at Del Mar, Redline is trained by John Sadler and will be ridden by Juan Hernandez.

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