Santa Anita notes: Smith to ride Fashion Plate in Santa Anita Oaks

The Grade 1 winner Fashion Plate will have a new jockey when she starts in the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks on April 5.

Trainer Simon Callaghan said Mike Smith will ride Fashion Plate, who won the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 1 when ridden by Gary Stevens. For the Santa Anita Oaks, Stevens will ride Ria Antonia, who was placed first in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November.

Ria Antonia recently joined Baffert’s stable and has recorded quick works in recent weeks. Previously trained by Jeremiah Englehart, Ria Antonia finished second in the BC Juvenile Fillies but was promoted to first when She’s a Tiger was disqualified from first and placed second for causing interference in deep stretch.

Smith will work Fashion Plate on Friday, Callaghan said.

Pontchatrain has bone chip

Pontchatrain, a four-time stakes winner in the last year, has been taken out of training until the autumn with a bone chip in an ankle, trainer Tom Proctor. Tests scheduled for early April will determine the treatment, he said.

“It shouldn’t be too big of a problem,” Proctor said. “We’ll X-ray it in a couple of weeks.”

Owned by Glen Hill Farm, Pontchatrain has won 6 of 8 starts and $444,882. A 4-year-old filly by War Front, Pontchatrain has won four consecutive starts, including the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile on turf on Feb. 17.

Proctor has a starter in Saturday’s $200,000 San Luis Rey Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on turf in Temeraine, the winner of the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs last September.

The Grade 2 San Luis Rey will have a small field. The leading contenders are Vagabond Shoes, who won the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes over 1 1/4 miles in his 2014 debut on Feb. 8; and Lucayan, who won the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup in December and was third in the San Marcos.