Santa Anita: Las Cienegas Recap; Stable Notes

By Mike Willman/Ed Golden —-

Coniah; Benoit Photo

CALIFORNIA-BRED CONIAH GOES GATE TO WIRE IN WINNING GRADE III, $100,000 LAS CIENEGAS STAKES BY 1 ¾ LENGTHS UNDER DESORMEAUX; TRAINED BY MOREY, SHE GETS 6 ½ FURLONGS DOWN HILLSIDE TURF IN 1:12.17

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 20, 2018)—Breaking from post position one, California-bred Coniah gunned to the lead under Kent Desormeaux and was in control thereafter as she cruised to a 1 ¾ length win in Saturday’s Grade III, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita. In providing trainer William Morey with his first-ever graded stakes victory, the 5-year-old mare by Harlington negotiated 6 ½ furlongs down the hillside turf course in 1:12.17.

“It took me almost 1,600 wins to get my first graded win,” said Morey. “It feels pretty good. I was very confident. I thought she looked great out there and I had Kent in charge, so I wasn’t looking at the fractions. When they turned for home, I knew they had to do some running to catch her.”

Idle since June 18, Coniah had two close second place finishes from as many tries down the hill. Off as the 2-1 second choice in a field of seven older fillies and mares, she paid $6.40, $3.40 and $2.60.

Owned and bred by James and Tammy McKenney, Coniah had three previous graded stakes placings, but like her trainer, registered her first graded win on Saturday. Out of the McKenney’s Lord at War mare, Pretti Woman, Coniah has an overall mark of 20-4-5-3. With the winner’s check of $60,000, she boosted her earnings to $295,365.

When asked if he was surprised Coniah was able to clear off after the first quarter mile, James McKenney responded, “I never anticipate anything. It’s horseracing!”

In her first try on turf, Bendable gave a good account of herself under Mike Smith. Unhurried early, she checked in second, a length in front of longshot Princess Princess.

Overlayed at 9-2 (off a morning line of 5-2), Bendable paid $5.00 and $3.80.

Ridden by Tyler Connor, Princess Princess layed third throughout and finished three quarters of a length in front of post time favorite Beau Recall, who could make no significant impact from off the pace.

Off at 22-1, Princess Princess paid $7.80 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.78, 43.89 and 1:06.31.

LAS CIENEGAS STAKES QUOTES GR. III, $100,000

JOCKEY QUOTES
KENT DESORMEAUX, WINNER RIDER: “She was awesome today. She was very comfortable. I’ve seen her develop and she was a consummate pro today. I thought Victor’s filly (Espinoza, aboard Instant Reflex) would show more speed. When I saw that it was Flavien’s horse (Prat, aboard Proper Discretion) that was showing the speed, I thought ‘I gotta knuckle down and stay clear of her, because she’s a dedicated front-running sprinter…It worked out great.”

TRAINER QUOTES
WILLIAM MOREY, TRAINER, CONIAH, WINNER: “I was very confident. I thought she looked great out there and I had Kent in charge, so I wasn’t looking at the fractions. When they turned for home, I knew they had to do some running to catch her. It took me almost 1,600 wins to get my first graded win…It feels pretty good. I’ve got 15 horses here and 25 at Golden Gate.”

OWNER QUOTES
JAMES MCKENNEY, CO-OWNER/BREEDER: When asked if he anticipated making an uncontested lead: “I never anticipate anything. It’s horseracing!”

Cover Photo; Coniah; Zoe Metz Photo

SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES

Masochistic; Zoe Metz Photo

• MASOCHISTIC IN SHARP WORKOUT FOR CAL CUP SPRINT
• CALIFORNIA-BREDS TAKE CENTER STAGE NEXT SATURDAY
• GIANT EXPECTATIONS FARES WELL AFTER PEGASUS DRILL
• BARGAIN CLAIM SKYE DIAMONDS EYES FEB. 18 LAS FLORES

MASOCHISTIC IN BULLET GATE DRILL FOR CAL CUP

Masochistic, a prime contender for next Saturday’s $150,000 Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint for four-year-olds and up at six furlongs, worked five furlongs in company from the gate for Bob Baffert Saturday in a bullet 59.80. Drayden Van Dyke was in the irons.

It was the fastest of 77 drills at the distance, the average time of which was 1:01.94. Stablemate Senditlikechilly was given a four furlong clocking of 50 seconds flat.

Masochistic, an eight-year-old California-bred Sought After gelding, has not raced since last May 6, when he faded to 13th after setting the pace early on in the Churchill Downs Stakes. He had been entered in the Grade III Midnight Lute Stakes on Dec. 30 but was scratched.

Thus Masochistic would be making his first start for Baffert in the Cal Cup Sprint, having previously been trained by Ron Ellis and earlier on by A.C. Avila. The speedy bay has an 8-3-0 record from 16 starts with earnings of $857,550.

SANTA ANITA SHOWCASES CAL-BREDS NEXT SATURDAY

California-breds will be in the spotlight at Santa Anita next Saturday with the 2018 edition of the California Cup and Sunshine Millions Day.

Four stakes restricted to California-bred or sired horses with total purses of $600,000 will be supported by an overnight card of allowance, maiden and claiming races with purses supercharged by the Cal-bred race fund.

The main event will be the $200,000 guaranteed Unusual Heat Turf Classic presented by City National Bank for four-year-olds and up at 1 1/18 miles.

The $150,000 guaranteed Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint for fillies and mares, four and up will be run at about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside course. The $150,000 guaranteed Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint for four-year-olds and up will be decided at six furlongs, and the $100,000 guaranteed California Cup Turf Sprint Stakes for three-year-olds will be run at about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside course.
The card also includes the following races restricted to Cal-breds: a $70,000 first-condition allowance for four-year-olds and up at about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course; a $65,000 maiden special weight race for three-year-olds at a mile on turf; a $65,000 maiden special weight race for three-year-old fillies at 5 ½ furlongs; a $35,000 purse maiden claimer ($50,000 claiming price) for three-year-olds at 6 ½ furlongs; and a $30,000 purse claimer ($16,000 claiming price) for four-year-olds and up.

First post time next Saturday is 11:45 a.m. Admission gates open at 10 a.m.

SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR GIANT EXPECTATIONS AND PEGASUS

After working five furlongs Friday in a bullet 58 seconds flat for the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at GulfstreamPark next Saturday, all systems were go for Giant Expectations in the second edition of the world’s richest race, to be run at 1 1/8 miles.

“So far, so good,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “He looked really good this morning. He’ll get to Gulfstream Wednesday, probably walk Thursday and school in the afternoon, school again Friday, and maybe just jog him a long way or give him a light gallop.

“Problem with him is, he doesn’t do anything light. He likes to honk around there, so we’ll see what I do with him on Friday.”

Pegasus contenders Collected and West Coast are scheduled to have their final works for Bob Baffert Sunday at Santa Anita before also departing next Wednesday for Florida.

RAGS-TO-RICHES SKYE DIAMOND EYES FEB. 18 LAS FLORES

Bargain claim Skye Diamonds is advancing steadily for her 2018 debut in the Grade III Las Flores Stakes for fillies and mares, four and up, at six furlongs on Feb. 18.

The California-bred daughter of First Dude, claimed for $40,000 on Aug. 27, 2016, has since gone on to win three added money events, including the Grade II Great Lady M and the Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap, in addition to a fourth-place finish in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

Thus far, she has earned a total of $539,150, and trainer Bill Spawr credits the ownership group of Jon Lindo, Tom Acker, Bloom Racing and Allen Racing in large part for her post-claim success.

“They gave me time to let her develop,” Spawr said. “Owners don’t get enough credit for that,” although former jockey and part owner Jeff Bloom disputes the trainer, saying “It’s all Bill.”

Spawr has a keen eye for a horse’s potential, and the 78-year-old showed his prowess in taking Skye Diamonds, who was given two months off after being claimed before Spawr ran her back for $50,000, resulting in a victory on Oct. 22, 2016.

“She was consistent and she was a Cal-bred and she was three,” Spawr said, succinctly summing up why he made the claim.

Skye Diamonds worked five furlongs on the training track Saturday in 1:02.60 under
regular rider Tiago Pierera.

FINISH LINES: Actor John Ortiz, who played trainer Turo Escalante in HBO’s LUCK, which was set at Santa Anita, will present the trophy for today’s Grade III Las Cienegas Stakes . . . Aided by a variety of factors, yesterday’s all-sources handle of $8,058,678 was in stark contrast to last year’s $4,831,001 . . . Doug O’Neill, who won back-to-back races Friday with odds-on favorites Line Drive and Dr. Ann, has Smarty Jones winner Pavel ticketed for the Grade II San Pasqual Stakes on Feb. 3, while Phil D’Amato is considering either the Grade III Thunder Road Stakes Feb. 10 or next Saturday’s $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic presented by City National Bank for Joe Hernandez Stakes winner Peewee Reese. Blackjackcat, third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, also is possible for the Thunder Road, trainer Mark Glatt said. Pavel worked five furlongs Saturday in 1:00.60. Line Drive, a three-year-old Line of David filly, won yesterday’s fourth race by a whopping 17 lengths under the steady late handling of Kyle Frey, making the $3.60 win payoff seem like a gift . . . Sign on with the Los Angeles Times horse racing newsletter. Authored by John Cherwa, it offers entries, charts and more at: http://www.latimes.com/newsletters/la-newsletter-racing-signup-page-htmlstory.html.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS

(Current Through Friday, Jan. 19)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Evin Roman 89 16 12 7 18% 39% $465,379
Rafael Bejarano 65 14 7 12 22% 51% $519,022
Kent Desormeaux 59 9 9 6 15% 41% $525,302
Tyler Baze 76 8 13 10 11% 41% $527,829
Drayden Van Dyke 49 8 2 5 16% 31% $519,809
Flavien Prat 61 7 11 7 11% 41% $470,308
Joseph Talamo 60 7 8 5 12% 33% $362,292
Tiago Pereira 49 7 4 2 14% 27% $207,835
Mike Smith 31 5 5 5 16% 48% $705,938
Corey Nakatani 21 4 5 0 19% 43% $253,350
Mario Gutierrez 38 4 2 6 11% 32% $301,551

Trainer Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Peter Miller 40 8 9 6 20% 58% $362,120
Vladimir Cerin 22 6 8 0 27% 64% $167,595
Richard Baltas 47 6 7 7 13% 43% $399,965
Bob Baffert 28 6 2 2 21% 36% $345,753
Mark Glatt 29 5 6 2 17% 45% $234,010
Jerry Hollendorfer 35 5 4 4 14% 37% $358,006
Philip D’Amato 37 5 3 6 14% 38% $345,655
Doug O’Neill 37 4 2 5 11% 30% $303,231
Michael McCarthy 14 4 1 1 29% 43% $267,990
William E. Morey 9 4 0 2 44% 67% $85,923