Santin's next start unclear, but Manhattan Stakes possible target
Santin came out of his Saturday win in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in good condition, trainer Brendan Walsh said Sunday morning, but no plans have yet been formed for a late spring and summer campaign.
Santin ran 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:49.72, a raw time that produced a 101 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best in Santin’s sixth race. Walsh had worked Santin in blinkers twice during the winter at Fair Grounds, but raced the colt in them for only the first time Saturday. In his first four starts, Santin had raced nearer the back of the field than the front, though March 26, in the Muniz Memorial, he was the horse nearest Two Emmys, who went wire to wire while beating Santin by more than two lengths.
Walsh and jockey Tyler Gaffalione both wondered how much Santin really cared for the Fair Grounds grass course, where he started twice this winter. While his trip Saturday at Churchill was similar to the one in the Muniz, Santin – whether from a change of course, a change of equipment, or a combination of factors – ran a more-focused race. He showed heart, too, fighting back after Mira Mission drew alongside him in upper stretch.
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Walsh said after the Turf Classic he believed Santin would have no trouble stretching from 1 1/8 miles to 1 1/4 miles, which could bring the $750,000 Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes undercard into play. Santin’s dam, Sentiero Italia, ran one of her best races in the 1 1/4-mile Flower Bowl, in which she earned a 100 Beyer while finishing a strong second to champion Lady Eli.
Mira Mission ran very well taking a neck loss while posting his third straight triple-digit Beyer, 100 this time. Trainer Ian Wilkes pointed out that Mira Mission had a slightly compromising trip finishing fifth, beaten just one length, in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile last month at Keeneland. That race marked Mira Mission’s first start at the Grade 1 level and showed Wilkes his horse belonged in such races.
“He just trained so fantastically after that race,” Wilkes said. “At the three-sixteenths pole I really thought we were the winner.”
Mira Mission didn’t win Saturday, but did finish a whopping six lengths in front of third-place Adhamo, the 2-1 favorite. Wilkes said he had no set plan for Mira Mission, a 4-year-old son of Noble Mission who has improved massively since racing in a $50,000 maiden-claimer in December 2020. Local options for the Churchill-based Mira Mission include the $200,000 Arlington Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on June 4 and the $350,000 Wise Dan at the same distance on July 2.
None of trainer Chad Brown’s three starters turned in a top effort, Adhamo appearing to struggle over the Churchill course, mustering only a tepid rally for the show. Front-runners on the Churchill turf Friday and Saturday fared poorly, and Tribhuvan faded tamely to fifth after being collared. Public Sector got stuck inside on the more laboring part of the course and went evenly for sixth. Brown said the “surface bothered all three” of his runners.
Ivar was an early scratch from the Turf Classic. Trainer Paulo Lobo said Sunday that the horse had a sore left-front foot that occasioned the scratch, but that Ivar was “feeling very good today.”