Shirreffs sends Hard Not to Love, Honor A. P. out for drills

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 winner Hard Not to Love and the promising 3-year-old Honor A. P. were among notable horses to work at Santa Anita on Monday.

Hard Not to Love, who won the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs on Dec. 28, worked five furlongs in 1:01. Trained by John Shirreffs, Hard Not to Love is a candidate for the Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes against older fillies and mares at seven furlongs on Feb. 15.

Honor A. P., who was held out of an expected start in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 4 because of a minor setback, worked three furlongs in 39.20 seconds for Shirreffs, who said he does not have a race planned for the colt.

“I thought he looked very good,” Shirreffs said. “We’ll get on a regular schedule and see where it goes.”

Honor A. P. underwent a series of tests earlier this month before resuming exercise after he was briefly sidelined.

Roadster, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last April, worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 for a scheduled appearance in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 1. Trained by Bob Baffert, Roadster was second in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs here on Dec. 26.

Thousand Words, the exciting winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 8, worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 for his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. Trained by Baffert, Thousand Words is unbeaten in two starts, having won a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita in his career debut in October.

Cerin fined for overage

Trainer Vladimir Cerin was fined $1,500 by Santa Anita stewards on Saturday after Big Sky Logan showed the presence of the analgesic phenylbutazone in a post-race test taken after the first race at Del Mar on Aug. 30.

Big Sky Logan finished fifth in a $40,000 claiming race for non-winners of two. In the ruling, Cerin was cited for his second offense of having a horse show the presence of bute within 365 days.

Bute is not permitted to appear in post-race tests following a series of rule changes enacted by the California Horse Racing Board in 2019 to improve horse safety after a series of breakdowns at Santa Anita in late winter and spring.