Santa Anita Handicap a tall order for American Blend

ARCADIA, Calif. - American Blend will need the race of his career to beat rivals such as Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge in next Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap.

“I’m running in a Breeders’ Cup,” said Carla Gaines, who trains American Blend.

It’s a valid reference. Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge were first and second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic here in November and have been shipped back to California for the Big Cap, the top race for older horses of the winter-spring meeting.

For the last few weeks, Gaines has debated whether to run American Blend in the Big Cap, or wait for the $100,000 Tokyo City Cup over 1 1/2 miles on dirt March 29. Gaines and jockey Joe Talamo discussed Big Cap strategy in recent weeks and think the race distance of 1 1/4 miles will suit American Blend, a 6-year-old gelding owned by Warren Williamson.

“I’m going to enter him,” Gaines said. “Joe and I talked about it and said the added distance will suit him well. If we run third, it would be $90,000, and that’s okay.

“It’s either this or I train him for nearly two months.”

American Blend made his stakes debut in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 8, closing from last in a field of seven to finish third, beaten 4 3/4 lengths by Blingo. That race suggested longer distances are within his reach.

By Quiet American, American Blend has been a late developer. After making his debut as a 3-year-old with a last-place finish in May 2011, American Blend beat maidens in his second start at Santa Anita in December 2011. He ran one more time that winter, finishing third in an allowance race in February 2012.

Following a 12-month break, American Blend resumed racing in February 2013 and had his first campaign of any length that year, winning once in six starts. Gaines was further encouraged when American Blend began 2014 with a win in an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 1, which led to a start in the San Antonio.

American Blend is part of a projected field of nine in the Big Cap. Aside from Mucho Macho Man and Will Take Charge, the candidates include Appealing Tale, Blingo, Game On Dude, Imperative, Majestic Harbor and Rousing Sermon.

Game On Dude won the Big Cap in 2011 and 2013, but was fifth in the San Antonio last month after fading from contention following a speed duel.