Santa Anita: Sahara Sky targets Carter Handicap at Aqueduct

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sahara Sky, the winner of Saturday’s $200,000 San Carlos Stakes, will follow a familiar path to the $1,250,000 Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park on June 7, a race he won in 2013.

Sahara Sky is a candidate for the $500,000 Carter Handicap over seven furlongs at Aqueduct on April 5 as a prep for the Met Mile, according to Dan Ward, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s assistant. In 2013, Sahara Sky was second in the Carter Handicap.

The Met Mile will have a record purse this year. The race is part of a stellar Belmont Stakes program that includes eight races each worth $500,000 or more.

Co-owned by Hollendorfer and Kim Lloyd, Sahara Sky closed from last in a field of 10 to win the San Carlos over seven furlongs by a half-length over Big Macher, the winner of the California Cup Sprint here Jan. 26.

Sahara Sky won the 2013 San Carlos, having won his preceding start in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes in January 2013. This year, Sahara Sky was last of five in the Palos Verdes but ran a much brighter race in the San Carlos.

Jockey Joel Rosario was forced to guide Sahara Sky through traffic to reach the front in the final strides.

“He’s run so well fresh, and when he didn’t run his best race [last time], we felt he wasn’t fit,” said Lloyd, the general manager of Barretts Sales and Racing at the Los Angeles County Fair. “Obviously, that was the case, but you always wonder, and he settled that for us.”

Big Macher made his graded stakes debut in the San Carlos. He led by a length with a furlong remaining but could not hold off Sahara Sky.

“I was proud of him,” said Richard Baltas, who trains Big Macher. “He stepped up to graded company. There are a lot of opportunities now.”

Baltas said one possibility for Big Macher’s next start is the $200,000 Potrero Grande Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs April 12.