ARCADIA, Calif. – The three main contenders in the Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes face challenges beyond a potentially wet turf course Saturday at Santa Anita.
Truly Quality, a streaking Grade 2 winner, wants longer than 1 1/4 miles. Easter, a multiple Grade 2 winner, typically runs shorter. Then there is Divin Propos, off the board in both of his graded stakes tries, who is repeatedly undervalued and possibly overrated.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Beeline, winner of the 2024 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park last winter in his second lifetime start, returns to face likely favorite Mish and four others in Friday’s $97,000 main event, which will be decided at six furlongs over the main track under high-priced optional-claiming and allowance conditions.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Masmak has run very well three straight times in races contested at a one-turn mile, his trainer, Rick Dutrow, believes the horse truly wants to run farther.
Friday, Masmak will get the chance to prove his trainer’s theory accurate when he tries 1 1/8 miles for the first time in a conditioned allowance/optional $62,500 claimer that serves as the feature on Aqueduct’s eight-race card.
Think Big’s second-start blowout maiden win last summer at Colonial Downs had his connections – thinking big.
Think Big proceeded to lose his next two starts, but the bloom has come back on the rose. Making his turf debut, Think Big hit a career peak Dec. 7 at Fair Grounds, notching an impressive first-level sprint allowance victory. Rained out of an intended turf start in January, Think Big still performed admirably on dirt, and back on turf in the featured seventh race Friday at Fair Grounds, Think Big can continue his rise.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first three races Friday at Santa Anita could generate one of the lowest pick three payoffs of winter. It is nothing to brag about. But this season, it is almost routine.
When odds-on favorites won races 2-4 on Jan. 18, the $1 pick three returned $2.20, lowest pick three of the meet. The mark is in jeopardy Friday in races 1-3. The pick three sequence includes two apparent standouts and an odds-on favorite in a four-horse field.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Patch Adams emerged from his fourth-place finish in last month’s Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn Park in excellent condition, trainer Brad Cox said Tuesday, with plans for the horse’s next start still being determined.
Patch Adams was making his two-turn debut in the Southwest and was the 4-5 favorite off a November maiden special weight win at Churchill Downs. He won the seven-furlong race on the front end in 1:20.77 and the Beyer Speed Figure of 98 he earned was the second-highest number put up by a 2-year-old in 2024.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The debut winner First Division will get the added distance he’s bred to appreciate Friday when he moves to two turns in the featured ninth race at Oaklawn Park.
The first-level allowance for 3-year-olds will be run at 1 1/16 miles and has an optional-claiming price of $150,000. The field of seven includes McDude and Rio Chama, who exit an allowance won by Sandman. Landing Craft owns the field’s best Beyer Speed Figure, an 81.
The internationally prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, known as the Aga Khan IV, died Feb. 4 at age 88 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Aga Khan was the spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims. According to the Associated Press, his successor in that role, which is chosen from male progeny or other relatives, was designated in his will, which will be read to his family and religious leaders in Lisbon before being made public. The Aga Khan is survived by three sons, a daughter, and several grandchildren.
WHO’S HOT
Citizen Bull opens as 10-1 favorite on the Derby Watch Top 20 after a front-running comeback win Feb. 1 in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita. Wire-to-wire winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile three months earlier, Citizen Bull was handed an easy lead in the Lewis and was strong to the finish. He will always be tough to catch when he gets a soft trip setting the pace.
