Searing family gearing up for big weekend in stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Lee Searing was a fortunate kid in 1958, the first year he recalls attending the Santa Anita Handicap. The race was won by Round Table in a season he was honored as champion handicap horse, champion grass horse and Horse of the Year.

“I can remember coming here for the Santa Anita Handicap with my dad,” Searing recalled at Santa Anita on Sunday morning. “I saw all those great horses.”

Searing, 71, will be at Santa Anita again for Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. He will arrive with the enthusiasm of a young child. Searing and his family’s CRK Stable own Midcourt, who will start as one of the favorites in the historic race.

Sunday at Santa Anita, Midcourt worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 under jockey Victor Espinoza in his final tune-up for the $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles. Midcourt, trained by John Shirreffs, will start in the Big Cap on the strength of a front-running win in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 1.

“He’s doing really well,” Searing said.

:: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Midcourt, a 5-year-old gelding, has won five of nine starts and earned $242,695. The gelding has won five of his last six starts since June.

The Big Cap will have a small field, including Gift Box, who won the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 28. Midcourt was a well-beaten third in that race after a slow start and a wide trip. Other candidates for the Big Cap are Brown Storm, Endorsed, and Two Thirty Five.

The Searings have had one horse start in the Big Cap, Gladding, who was 10th in 2011 and 12th the following year.

Saturday could be a massive day for the Searings. They start the promising maiden race winner Honor A. P. in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. Honor A. P., trained by Shirreffs, won a maiden special weight race at 1 1/16 miles here in October and has not started since.

Sunday, Honor A. P. worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 under Espinoza, who was deputizing for absent jockey Mike Smith.

The layoff does not concern Lee Searing.

“I think he’ll show up,” Searing said. “John is so good, in my opinion, getting a horse ready.”

Honor A. P. missed a scheduled start in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January because of a training setback, but has worked steadily since late January. The $400,000 San Felipe is considered a prep for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4.

“He’s got a good long stride,” Searing said. “The Santa Anita Derby is sitting there. He wants to go the distance and that’s a plus.”

The San Felipe field has a projected field of six, including the stakes winners Authentic, Fast Enough, Storm the Court, and Thousand Words and the stakes-placed Wrecking Crew.

Storm the Court, the champion 2-year-old male of 2019, will be ridden for the first time by Joel Rosario, a replacement for Flavien Prat who is booked to ride Thousand Words.

Storm the Court won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here last November and was fourth in his 2020 debut in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs on Feb. 9.

Wrecking Crew was third in the BC Juvenile, and later finished a well-beaten last of four in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December on a sealed and good track. The San Felipe will be his 3-year-old debut.

Trainer Peter Miller said Wrecking Crew did not handle the surface at Los Alamitos. Miller said the San Felipe is a prep for $2.5 million United Arab Emirates Derby in Dubai on March 28.

Searing, who owns a steel tubing company, has other runners with stakes credentials in the current stable.

Royal Act, second to Thousand Words in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 1, is a candidate for the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 21, the same day the stakes winner Draft Pick is scheduled to run in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic. Peter Eurton trains Royal Act and Draft Pick.