Santa Anita handicapping roundup: Week of Dec. 28

ARCADIA SPEED

If the Santa Anita main track plays like it did one year ago, handicappers can expect a surface kind to front-runners. The track definitely favored speed last winter, as noted by the statistics below.

5 1/2 furlongs: Horses within two lengths of the leader at the first pace call (opening quarter-mile) won 77 percent (37 of 48).
6 furlongs: Horses within two lengths won 79 percent (92 of 116).
6 1/2 furlongs: Horses within two lengths won 61 percent (46 of 75).
7 furlongs: Horses within two lengths won 63 percent (26 of 41).

The profile was less lopsided around two turns.

1 mile: Horses within two lengths of the lead at the first call (opening half-mile) won 59 percent (41 of 69).
1 1/16 miles: Horses within two lengths won 54 percent (32 of 51).

To summarize: Speed was crucial in sprints last winter. Around two turns, speed was less advantageous. From seven dirt races at 1 1/8 miles and beyond, five were won by front-runners/pressers.

COMMA TO THE TOP RECOVERY

It was supposed to be routine arthroscopic surgery, but the venerable gelding Comma to the Top came out of the autumn procedure with an infected joint that ultimately led to his retirement.

“It was touch-and-go whether he would survive,” trainer Peter Miller said.

The good news is that Comma to the Top gradually recovered, and though he will never race again, the gelding could still have a career as a pony. And Miller will always have a soft spot in his heart for the 14-for-33 winner of $1,349,406.

“He was a real throwback to an era long gone by,” Miller said. “He was a horse that was durable, tough, and could do it all. He was so consistent and so sound. He was one of my first big horses.”

SCOUTING 2-YEAR-OLDS

Talk about a deep roster. Bob Baffert entered two more promising maidens Saturday in race 5 – Indian Smoke, a Zensational colt who is the first starter produced by champion filly Indian Blessing, and Pimpernel, a second-time starter produced by champion Xtra Heat. Baffert entered the week having won 19 maiden special weight races for 2-year-olds since late July.

◗ Texas Ryano, entered Saturday in race 6, is among the best-bred horses on the card. He was sired by Curlin and produced by stakes winner and top producer Blending Element. That makes him a sibling to stakes winners Excessive Blend, Holladay Road, Tiz Elemental, and Tiz a Blend.
Carla Gaines trains Texas Ryano. “He has quality, he has class, he is lean and flat-muscled,” Gaines said. “He’s a long-distance horse. He’s going to break, sit, and finish.”

Texas Ryano races a mile on turf in his debut. The top effort by Texas Ryano probably will be in his second start. Stay tuned.

◗ Dance With Fate, a two-time Grade 1 runner-up in his juvenile campaign, will have an “unconventional footing” campaign this winter and spring, according to trainer Pete Eurton.

“I going to keep him on synthetic for his next two,” Eurton said.

Sired by Two Step Salsa, Dance With Fate had a promising juvenile campaign during which he finished second in the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes on dirt at Santa Anita. He won 1 of 5 and will target the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 15 at Golden Gate Fields, followed by the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland.

PHOTO TOUT

Racing fans will appreciate a captivating photography exhibit, “Faces at the Races,” on display through Jan. 11 at the Gilb Museum of Arcadia Heritage (380 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia, Calif.). The Santa Anita-specific collection, from 1971, features work by local photographer Steve Johnstone. Can’t make the exhibit? Check out the website, www.sjohnstonephoto.com/#!documentary--horseracing.