Say the Word, Acclimate poised to double up in San Marcos

At the start of the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup on Nov. 26 at Del Mar, Acclimate went to the front while stablemate Say the Word drifted to the back of the seven-horse field. At the finish, Say the Word had passed all his rivals, the last being Acclimate in the final sixteenth.

The 1-2 finish was a perfect result for trainer Phil D’Amato, who will start the same pair in Sunday’s Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita. The distance is a quarter-mile shorter than the Hollywood Turf Cup, but the tactics will be the same.

Acclimate, 8, is at his best when allowed to set the pace, a strategy that has led to three graded stakes wins in his 29-race career. Say the Word, 7, is a closer who has won three graded stakes in his 33-race career.

“They both have distinct styles,” D’Amato said. “They will probably bookend each other, and we’ll see what happens late.

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“Anytime you get over a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half either of those horses can win on a given day. It’s in both of their wheelhouses.”

The $225,000 San Marcos Stakes drew a field of six. Acclimate and Say the Word will be challenged by Bob and Jackie and Friar’s Road, who were first and second, separated by a nose, in the Grade 3 San Gabriel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt on Dec. 26. The race was scheduled for turf, but transferred to the main track because of wet conditions.

Friar’s Road, trained by Michael McCarthy, has yet to win a graded stakes, but ran very well when third by a head in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita in October and third by 1 1/4 lengths behind Say the Word in the Hollywood Turf Cup.

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Bob and Jackie, trained by Richard Baltas, will start at 1 1/4 miles for the first time in the San Marcos in his 17th start. Bob and Jackie won three stakes at a mile on turf from 2018 to 2020.

“We’re taking a shot,” Baltas said. “I thought the race the other day, coming off the turf, really helped him.”

Bob and Jackie tends to run near the front and could challenge Acclimate in their first-ever meeting.

“He’ll keep Acclimate honest,” D’Amato said.

Bob and Jackie led throughout the San Gabriel Stakes, his first start on dirt, rebounding from a quiet sixth in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 27 at Del Mar.

The San Marcos will be a class test for Dicey Mo Chara, who was 12th of 14 after a slow start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Nov. 27 at Del Mar; and Lincoln Hawk, who won an allowance race at 1 1/8 miles on Dec. 27.