Santa Anita: Million-dollar earner The Usual Q.T. euthanized

The Usual Q.T., a millionaire and five-time stakes winner, was euthanized earlier this month after a lengthy battle with illness.

The Usual Q.T. was retired in early 2012 and had resided at a local farm, according to trainer Jim Cassidy. In recent months, The Usual Q.T. was diagnosed with peritonitis, an inflammation of the membranes lining the abdomen and intestines.

Cassidy said The Usual Q.T. was treated by veterinarians at the racetrack and at a Southern California equine clinic but could not be saved. The Usual Q.T. had a severe case of colic in early 2013, Cassidy said.

The Usual Q.T. raced for a partnership and won 8 of 23 starts and earned $1,531,240. A California-bred by Unusual Heat, The Usual Q.T. won three consecutive graded stakes for 3-year-olds on turf in the final two months of 2009, a sequence that began with a win in the Oak Tree Derby on Nov. 9.

“When Zenyatta won the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he won the race after, the Oak Tree Derby,” Cassidy recalled. “I felt like I’d won a $20,000 claimer. There was no hype.

“He was a great horse.”

Strong month for Sadler

Trainer John Sadler ended February with six stakes wins at Santa Anita. The track had 14 stakes through the month.

Sadler’s final stakes winner of February was Sweet Swap in Sunday’s $76,900 Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course. The Hernandez was Sweet Swap’s first stakes win in his 11th career start. He is a full brother to the millionaire Sidney’s Candy, who won the Santa Anita Derby in 2010.

Sadler said Wednesday that he does not have a specific race goal for Sweet Swap, but that the $100,000 San Simeon Stakes on the hillside turf course on April 13 is a possibility.

Eventually, Sweet Swap will be tried at a mile on turf this year, possibly during the Del Mar summer meeting. The BC Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course on Nov. 1 is a long-range goal.

“I want to see if he’s good enough for the Breeders’ Cup on the hill,” Sadler said.

Sweet Swap is owned by Hronis Racing, which had three other stakes winners with Sadler in February – Vagabond Shoes in the San Marcos, Sky High Gal in the Wishing Well, and Iotapa in the Santa Maria. CRK Stables owns Sadler’s other two stakes winners in February – Kobe’s Back in the San Vicente and Candy Boy in the Robert B. Lewis.

◗ Jockey Irving Orozco begins riding as a journeyman on Friday. Orozco, 20, has won 16 races at this meeting through Sunday, leaving him tied for seventh in the standings.