ARCADIA, Calif.- Game On Dude seems to be at the top of every category at Santa Anita this year.
Game On Dude will carry top weight of 125 pounds for Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap, and will be a heavy favorite in the richest race of the meeting for older horses.
A bruised foot will prevent Demonic from making his stakes debut in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 9 at Santa Anita, trainer John Sadler said.
The Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes is run over 1 1/16 miles and is a key prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 6.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
Sadler said that he has no specific plans for Demonic this spring.
Sahara Sky has emerged as the dominant sprinter at Santa Anita this year, with wins in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes on Jan. 19 and the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes on Saturday.
A 5-year-old horse, Sahara Sky is scheduled to make his next start in the $150,000 Potrero Grande Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on April 6. If he wins that race, he will be the first horse to sweep those three major sprints since Big Jag in 1999. Kona Gold won the 2000 Palos Verdes and Potrero Grande, but was beaten a nose by stablemate Son of a Pistol in that year’s San Carlos.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Beholder, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012, worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on Sunday, preparing for Saturday’s $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita.
The workout could have been much quicker, trainer Richard Mandella said.
“She looked pretty nice,” Mandella said. “She galloped out very nicely.
“We didn’t let her do too much. It’s time to run.”
Violence, who suffered the first loss of his career when second in the Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, fractured a sesamoid bone in his right front ankle, and his racing career is in jeopardy, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
Pletcher said the fracture would not require surgery. He said Violence was "resting comfortably" in his stall at the Palm Meadows training center.
The anatomy of Ive Struck a Nerve’s 135-1 upset in the Risen Star Stakes began forming not long after the colt’s fading fourth-place finish in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 19 at Fair Grounds. In the Lecomte, trainer Keith Desormeaux saw a colt fighting his rider, a horse who declined to switch off early and finish late, the way his trainer wanted Ive Struck a Nerve to race. It was a problem dating to this past summer, when Ive Struck a Nerve became rank and aggressive when Desormeaux first stretched him out to two turns.
Twenty Hawks, stretching out from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles, led wire to wire under 2012 Eclipse Award apprentice Jose Montano in Saturday night’s $35,000 Winter Handicap at Charles Town.
A 6-year-old gelding owned by Kyle Yost and trained by Ronney Brown, Twenty Hawks ($9.60) finished two lengths in front of Who We Gunna Call, part of a 6-5 favored entry with Righteous Again. It was another 2 1/4 lengths back to Tapana.
Skip a Smile, the 2011 Texas-bred horse of the year, withstood a claim of foul by the rider of Coyote Legend, who won the same honor in 2012, to win Saturday night’s $50,000 Jersey Village at Sam Houston Race Park. Skip a Smile won by a length over Doctor Romane, while Coyote Legend ended up sixth after being forced to check sharply in the stretch under jockey Roman Chapa.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Sahara Sky is making a fan of Hall of Fame Jerry Hollendorfer this year.
The 5-year-old Sahara Sky had a slow start to his career, winning 2 of his first 7 starts in California, and leaving Hollendorfer to question the long-term prospects. His point of view has changed rapidly this year.
Sahara Sky won his second consecutive graded stakes in Saturday’s $200,750 San Carlos Stakes over seven furlongs at Santa Anita.
“You can’t expect for them to be graded stakes winners all the time,” Hollendorfer said. “He sure is a nice horse.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - An upset win by Quiet Force ($57.80) in Saturday’s ninth race has led to a pick six carryover of $100,001 for Sunday’s program at Santa Anita.
The pick six races are the fourth through ninth races on Sunday. The program begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.
The pick six races feature three races over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course and three one-mile races on the main track.
The biggest fields are the fourth and sixth, maiden race for California-breds on the hillside turf course. Each of those races has 10 entrants.
