SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018

By Ed Golden —-

Bolt d’Oro; Zoe Metz/Clockers Corner

• ESPINOZA TO WORK BOLT D’ORO ON TUESDAY
• EASY MAIDEN WINNER JUSTIFY GETS 104 BEYER
• ROMAN, PRAT DEADLOCKED IN JOCKEYS’ RACE

BOLT D’ORO TO BREEZE FOR SAN FELIPE UNDER ESPINOZA

Bolt d’Oro, a leading contender for the Triple Crown who is scheduled to make his three-year-old debut in the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 10, will work towards that goal Tuesday morning with Victor Espinoza aboard.

“He’ll go five-eighths in company,” owner/trainer Mick Ruis said Monday morning at Clockers’ Corner. “I wanted to go out of the gate, but the gate is not available on Tuesdays (the gate crews’ day off), and I want to keep my six-day schedule, so it looks like I’ll go six furlongs from the gate next Monday when Javier (Castellano) is in town (from Florida) to work him.”

The San Felipe, a Grade II test at a mile and one-sixteenth, yields $400,000 in purse money and offers 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, 20 to the runner-up, 10 to the third-place finisher and five to the fourth.

With four-time Eclipse Award winner from 2013 through 2016 as outstanding jockey Castellano currently listed as the rider on two other Derby candidates, as well as Bolt d’Oro, and the Run for the Roses over two months away–light years in racing–anything can happen.

Thus Ruis could do worse than have three-time Kentucky Derby winner, Triple Crown champion, and newly-minted Hall of Fame member Espinoza waiting in the wings to ride Bolt d’Oro on the first Saturday in May, should the fates allow.

JUSTIFY WINS AS ADVERTISED IN DEBUT

Justify, rollicking 9 ½-length winner in his debut race Sunday, earned a Beyer Figure of 104 for his performance under Drayden Van Dyke.

The $500,000 son of Scat Daddy trained by Bob Baffert was head and head early and took control around the far turn, getting seven furlongs in 1:21.86 under 122 pounds. The chestnut colt had been firing bullets in advance of his first start, the most recent being a 1:12.40 clocking for six furlongs from the gate on Feb. 5.

When asked about the possibility of making the Triple Crown trail, Baffert responded, “It’s not too late. I’ve got a plan . . . We’re looking (for a graded stakes race). He’s shown his brilliance in the morning.”

Working Monday morning for Baffert were Las Virgenes winner Dream Tree, a candidate for the Grade I Santa Anita Oaks on April 7, who went six furlongs in a bullet 1:12.80, and the venerable and well-traveled Hoppertunity, who went the same distance in 1:14.60.

The Grade I, $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap presented by SanManuelCasino on March 10 and the Dubai World Cup on March 31 are options for the seven-year-old son of Any Given Saturday, who has earned more than $4.3 million.

ROMAN, PRAT ONCE AGAIN SHARE RIDING LEAD

Through 32 days of Santa Anita’s Winter Meet, apprentice Evin Roman and journeyman Flavien Prat were tied for the riding lead with 28 victories each.

Prat made up considerable ground in the past few weeks to catch Roman, winning at least one race at day for 12 straight days until yesterday, when he was blanked on three rides.

The 19-year-old Roman, Eclipse Award winner as outstanding apprentice of 2017, loses his five-pound apprentice weight allowance on March 12. He and Prat tied for honors at Santa Anita’s 2017 Summer Meet with 41 victories each, although Roman had 17 more mounts.

This meet, Roman has ridden 176 horses, 31 more than Prat, but the Frenchman leads everyone in purse money won with $1,584,008. Kent Desormeaux is second with $1,346,986 and ranks third behind Roman and Prat in victories with 25.

Desormeaux, who turns 48 on Feb. 27, leads in stakes victories with eight, one up on Tyler Baze and three up on Mike Smith.

Among trainers, Peter Miller holds an 18-16 lead over Bob Baffert, while sending out 12 more runners, 76-64. Baffert leads in money won with $1,007,489, the only conditioner to crack the million dollar mark to date.

Favorites are winning 35.48 percent of the time (99 of 279), slightly above the national average. On dirt, they’re coming home first at a 33.53 clip (57 of 170) and on turf considerably higher at 38.53 percent (42 of 109).

Odds-on favorites have captured 29 of 47 races, 61.70 percent, while in-the-money odds-on favorites have been successful in 44 of 47 races, 93.62 percent.

FINISH LINES: Champion female sprinter of 2017 Unique Bella worked four furlongs under the watchful eye of Jerry Hollendorfer Monday morning in a bullet 1:00.20, breezing, for the Grade I Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8-miles on March 17. It was the fastest of 54 drills at the distance. Exercise rider Freddie Garcia was aboard the four-year-old gray daughter of Tapit, who rolled to a facile nine-length victory in the Grade II Santa Maria Stakes Feb. 10 . . . Reminder, Santa Anita has Win, Place and Show Parlay Wagering available every racing day . . . Santa Anita will be dark for live racing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but be open for simulcast wagering Wednesday and Thursday with free admission and free parking. Admission gates open those days at 10 a.m. Live racing resumes Friday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m. . . . 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 Sunday, Feb. 18)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Evin Roman 176 28 30 22 16% 45% $982,929
Flavien Prat 145 28 29 16 19% 50% $1,584,008
Kent Desormeaux 117 25 16 16 21% 49% $1,346,986
Rafael Bejarano 132 21 15 28 16% 48% $958,478
Tyler Baze 160 19 25 19 12% 39% $1,197,894
Drayden Van Dyke 101 18 10 8 18% 36% $1,127,883
Joseph Talamo 129 16 17 17 12% 39% $791,118
Geovanni Franco 93 14 10 15 15% 42% $528,310
Tiago Pereira 108 11 14 12 10% 34% $513,705
Mario Gutierrez 70 10 7 10 14% 39% $647,087
Corey Nakatani 52 9 10 3 17% 42% $555,604
Mike Smith 54 9 9 7 17% 46% $1,002,208

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

Peter Miller 76 18 18 9 24% 59% $881,994
Bob Baffert 64 16 11 7 25% 53% $1,007,489
Richard Baltas 105 14 17 13 13% 42% $820,619
Jerry Hollendorfer 83 14 8 13 17% 42% $861,051
Vladimir Cerin 45 11 10 4 24% 56% $324,445
Doug O’Neill 74 10 11 10 14% 42% $693,982
John Sadler 77 9 6 11 12% 34% $728,190
William E. Morey 24 9 1 7 38% 71% $375,378
Mark Glatt 55 8 10 6 15% 44% $383,245
Philip D’Amato 75 8 9 15 11% 43% $658,204
J. Keith Desormeaux 31 7 2 5 23% 45% $249,965

About Us

Santa Anita Park is a Stronach Group company, North America’s leading Thoroughbred racetrack owner/operator. The Stronach Group racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park & Casino, Golden Gate Fields, Portland Meadows, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, home of the world-famous Preakness. The company owns and operates the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida, and is one of North America’s top race horse breeders through its award-winning Adena Springs operation The Stronach Group is one of the world’s largest suppliers of pari-mutuel wagering systems, technologies and services. Its companies include AmTote, a global leader in wagering technology; Xpressbet, an Internet and telephone account wagering service; and Monarch Content Management, which acts as a simulcast purchase and sales agent of horseracing content for numerous North American racetracks and wagering outlets. The Stronach Group is North America’s premier supplier of virtual online horseracing games, as well as a leading producer of social media content for the horseracing industry.