ARCADIA, Calif. – The 6,059th North American career win for Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux occurred in Thursday’s eighth race at Santa Anita aboard the $18,000 claimer Satchel de Ritches. For the 50-year-old Desormeaux, the win was his first since July 26.
“It felt like the Breeders’ Cup,” a visibly relieved Desormeaux said after Thursday’s races.
Desormeaux’s career and life were in turmoil in the second half of 2020.
Jockey Brice Blanc is planning a February return to racing after recovering from the effects of a spill at Del Mar in late August.
Blanc was expected to be sidelined until October, but lingering neck issues have prolonged his absence, according to his agent, George Bradvica.
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“He wants to be in perfect condition to come back,” Bradvica said Wednesday. “He has been in rehab for a number of months.
The multiple stakes winner Jolie Olimpica and the promising filly Superstition worked on Thursday for scheduled starts in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs on turf on Jan. 9.
Jolie Olimpica, who won the 2020 Las Cienegas when the race was run at 5 1/2 furlongs, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20. Jolie Olimpica has not raced since a second in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland in July.
Shooters Shoot started in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last June on the strength of consecutive wins earlier in the spring at Santa Anita and Oaklawn Park. He finished fifth and did not start again in 2020, emerging from the Santa Anita Derby with a minor injury that led to a three-month rest on a local farm.
Saturday, Shooters Shoot returns in a strong allowance race at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita. The allowance race could lead to an appearance in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes here Jan. 30, trainer Peter Eurton said.
Knicks Go went crazy in his two races during autumn 2020. Now, his connections will see how far the horse can go to start his 2021 campaign.
Knicks Go came back from a 7 1/2-month layoff and set a track record winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance race in October at Keeneland. He returned a month later, set a breathtakingly fast pace, and still aired in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, setting another track record. Those two performances produced Beyer Speed Figures of 108 and 107, two of the highest North American figures of 2020.
Jackie’s Warrior, who was on track to be 2-year-old champion of 2020 before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, had his first post-Breeders’ Cup timed workout when he went a half-mile in 52.60 seconds Tuesday at Fair Grounds.
Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. has been fined $500 by Santa Anita stewards for excessive use of the whip in the first race on Dec. 26.
Santana was cited for using the whip more than six times on Sassyserb, who finished second. Santana was winless in five stakes mounts later that day.
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Santa Anita will launch a four-race starter-allowance series on turf later this month designed to increase participation in long-distance turf races.
The series will include a race at 1 1/8 miles on Jan. 23, at 1 1/4 miles on Feb. 20, at 1 1/2 miles on March 20, and about 1 3/4 miles on April 17. The races will be restricted to horses who have started for a claiming price of $40,000 or less since Jan. 1, 2019.
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Smooth Like Strait, winner of the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile last Saturday at Santa Anita and three other turf stakes in 2020, will have his 2021 debut in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile against older horses on March 6.
Trainer Michael McCarthy said Smooth Like Strait has received an invitation to the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park, but that a California-based campaign through the winter and spring has more appeal.
“I’m definitely going to wait,” McCarthy said. “That is the plan.”
The Grade 3 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on Saturday at Santa Anita has a projected field of five, all in search of their first stakes wins.
Life Is Good, winner of a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs by 9 1/2 lengths in his debut Nov. 22 at Del Mar, will be favored against fellow maiden race winners Medina Spirit and Parnelli. Waspirant and Uncle Boogie, who have had mixed results in stakes, are the other expected runners.
Bob Baffert trains Life Is Good and Medina Spirit.
