Soi Phet one start from a winter's break
CYPRESS, Calif. - Soi Phet is on the verge of a well-earned winter vacation.
After winning his third stakes in his last four starts in Saturday’s $75,000 E.B. Johnston Stakes for California-bred milers at Los Alamitos, trainer Leonard Powell said Soi Phet is likely to have one start at the Santa Anita autumn meeting before being turned out. The reason is simple: Soi Phet is not a wintertime horse.
“He never runs well in the winter and we can bring him back in the spring,” Powell said. “He’ll tell me.”
An 8-year-old gelding, Soi Phet has won 11 races in his career, which began in January 2012; all have come between mid-May and mid-September.
This year, Soi Phet has won 3 of 9 starts. He won the McCann’s Mojave Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in June and a division of the Harry Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 24. The only blemish in his recent form is a sixth-place finish in the California Dreamin’ Stakes against Cal-breds on turf July 24 at Del Mar.
Soi Phet is co-owned by the partnership of Gerald Benowitz, Mathilde Powel, and Paul Viskovich. He was claimed for $14,000 in May 2013 and has since earned a remarkable $713,391.
In the Johnston, Soi Phet ($3.40) closed with a three-wide rally to finish a half-length in front of Magic Mark, who won the other division of the Brubaker last month.
Powell said one key to Soi Phet’s success has been a changed approach to training, with less strenuous activity on a daily basis.
“He’s 8 and he knows his job,” he said. “I have trained him a little lighter the last couple of years. I’ve learned what I can get away with fitness-wise.”