Santa Anita: No Triple Crown plans for Majestic City

ARCADIA, Calif. – Majestic City, the winner of two sprint stakes last summer, is being rested for 45 days and is off the Triple Crown trail.

Trained by Peter Miller, Majestic City has won 3 of 7 starts and $245,570 for owner Jeff Bloom. Majestic City was 13th in the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park on Dec. 17, his most recent start. Miller said that Majestic City will be sent to a farm in Hemet, Calif., for a rest.

“He’s just pooped,” Miller said. “We’re going to let him be a horse for 45 days. We’ll bring him back for a late spring and summer campaign.”

The timing of the break means that Majestic City will miss the major 3-year-old races in coming months, and is out of the Kentucky Derby picture.

“I never considered him a mile-and-a-quarter horse,” Miller said.

Majestic City won his first three races, including the Willard Proctor Stakes and Hollywood Juvenile Championship. He lost his next four starts, with the best result during those races a second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in October.

Senor Rain first-time gelding for Sham

The Miller-trained Senor Rain is a candidate in Saturday’s $100,000 Sham Stakes over a mile at Santa Anita.

Owned by Gary and Cecil Barber, Senor Rain did not finish the Grade 3 Generous Stakes over a mile on turf at Hollywood Park on Nov. 27, bearing out on the first turn, which resulted in him being pulled up. He has since been gelded.

“We gave him a little attitude adjustment,” Miller said.

Senor Rain has won 2 of 7 starts and $73,416. In November, he was third behind Liaison and Rousing Sermon in the Real Quiet Stakes. Those two returned to finish one-two in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park on Dec. 17.

The list of probable starters for the Sham Stakes is led by Secret Circle, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4. The one-mile Sham Stakes will be Secret Circle’s first start beyond six furlongs.

Other candidates are Baby Blake, Hierro, Hodge, Longview Drive, Out of Bounds, and Spirit Rules.