Warren's Showtime back quick for Megahertz Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 3 Megahertz may or may not be the most significant stakes race Saturday at Santa Anita, but it certainly offers more wagering appeal than the five-runner Grade 2 San Vicente or six-runner Grade 3 Palos Verdes.

The challenge for bettors in the eight-runner Megahertz, obviously, is to be right.

Trainer Craig Lewis believes he is right to wheel back Warren’s Showtime just two weeks after she finished fourth as the favorite in a California-bred sprint stakes.

“I guess the nicest way to put it is [the race] didn’t go her way, through no fault of her own,” Lewis said. “She ran only an eighth of a mile, and that’s why she’s running back in two weeks. It didn’t take anything out of her. She basically had a workout.”

Warren’s Showtime, compromised by slow fractions, ground loss, and trouble, jumps in class and stretches out Saturday. She faces graded stakes winners Bodhicitta and Madone in the $100,000 Megahertz, a mile turf race for fillies and mares that goes as race 7.

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The field also includes Canoodling, a stretch-out sprinter who should be a pace factor; stakes winners Burgoo Alley, Avenue de France, and Sloane Garden; and outsider Kuora. The field’s only California-bred is the one to beat.

Warren’s Showtime also is the most accomplished in the field. Owned and bred by Ben and Sally Warren, the 5-year-old by Clubhouse Ride has won seven stakes, eight races overall, and earned $823,431 from 25 starts.

Though she has won short and long, on dirt and turf, Warren’s Showtime’s closing style often puts her at a disadvantage. It happened in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint. The list of excuses for Warren’s Showtime is longer than the name of the race. At least the excuses were sensible.

A slow pace allowed the winner to race gate to wire, while Warren’s Showtime lagged in 10th. She clipped heels before the dirt crossing, rallied eight wide, and closed well.

“She ran her usual good race, she did everything she was supposed to do,” Lewis said.

Everything but win. Regular rider Juan Hernandez is back aboard for the Megahertz, which is not an easy race.

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Bodhicitta returned to form last out when she added blinkers and finished second in the Grade 3 Robert Frankel. Changes in equipment are not common for a 6-year-old veteran, but trainer Richard Baltas felt Bodhicitta needed something extra.

“I put little cheater blinkers on her, just to change it up a little bit and do something a little different. Horses sometimes get bored,” he said.

Bodhicitta ran well. Flavien Prat rides on Saturday.

Madone has not started in three months, which is perfect, because she always fires fresh. Racing one mile on turf, she won her career debut; a Grade 3 last spring returning from a six-month layoff; and a Grade 3 last summer back from a two-month break.

Simon Callaghan trains 5-for-10 Madone, whose rider is Joe Bravo.