SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES

By Ed Golden —-


• SMITH SMELLS THE ROSES AND MORE WITH JUSTIFY
• JUSTIFY TAKES A BOW AT SANTA ANITA TOMORROW
• WISER STONE HANDS SET FOR GRADE II SAN CARLOS
• CHROME’S BROTHER EYES STAKE AFTER MAIDEN WIN
• D’AMATO ENTERS TWO FOR CLOSING DAY’S WILSHIRE

SMITH’S TRIPLE CROWN MEMORIES ARE EVERGREEN

Mike Smith may not be fined for excessive use of the riding crop, but he could be fined for excessive use of the Sharpie come Saturday.

That’s when the Hall of Fame jockey and regular rider of Triple Crown champion Justify will be signing posters depicting the undefeated colt’s sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

The eye-catching, high-quality posters will be free to the first 4,000 in attendance at Santa Anita Saturday while supplies last, and Smith will be available to sign them from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 am. adjacent to the Kingsbury Fountain in the West Paddock Gardens area.

“It’s great stuff,” the 52-year-old Smith said at Clockers’ Corner Friday morning, on a rare break from the whirlwind media hoopla that erupted following Justify’s victory in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

“It’s been crazy, but it’s all good. You hate to leave anyone out, but it seems like everyone wants to see you at the same time. It’s all fun; it’s all good. I can’t complain one bit.”

Smith is well aware that the demand for his presence, like youth, will one day fade away, but he is mature enough to enjoy the ride while he can.

“The requests for your time and participation will eventually come to an end,” he said, “but the memories always will stay with you here (tapping his hand over his heart), and that’s all that matters.”

JUSTIFY ON PARADE AT SANTA ANITA TOMORROW

Triple Crown champion Justify will parade through Santa Anita’s Paddock Gardens and onto the main track and Winner’s Circle between races four and five on Saturday.

The imposing chestnut son of Scat Daddy will be accompanied in the Winner’s Circle by his trainer, Bob Baffert, and his jockey, Mike Smith, who will be available to credentialed media.

Approximate post time for Saturday’s fourth race is 1:36 p.m. Pacific Time.

There will be an early first post time of 12 noon. Admission gates open at 10 a.m.

OLDER, WISER STONE HANDS SET FOR SAN CARLOS

Streaking Stone Hands goes after his third straight victory and his first stakes win Saturday in the Grade II, $250,000 San Carlos for three-year-olds and up at seven furlongs.

The four-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Tapizar trained by meet leader Doug O’Neill for principal client J. Paul Reddam was a well-beaten fifth in his only previous stakes, the Shared Belief at Del Mar last August.

“We always thought he was a nice horse when he was young,” explained O’Neill assistant Leandro Mora. “But he got a little sour, so Doug and Mr. Reddam started from scratch and it looks like he’s picking it up again. As he’s gotten a little older, maybe he’s gotten wiser.”

The San Carlos, race 11 of 12: Top of the Game, Israel Ocampo, 15-1; St. Joe Bay, Tyler Baze, 12-1; El Huerfano, Geovanni Franco, 15-1; American Anthem, Mike Smith, 9-5; Horse Greedy, Stewart Elliott, 15-1; Touching Rainbows, Flavien Prat, 5-2; Stone Hands, Mario Gutierrez, 4-1; and Dabster, Martin Garcia, 4-1.

STAKE RACE CONSIDERED FOR CALIFORNIA CHROME’S BROTHER

Faversham, a full brother to two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, broke his maiden impressively Thursday, winning at one on mile turf by 3 ¼ lengths under Tiago Pereira.

It was the sixth career start for the three-year-old chestnut ridgling trained by Art Sherman, who made a rider change and removed blinkers for the race.

“He was a big overlay, but he had bad experiences in his last two races (beaten a combined margin of 26 ½ lengths),” Sherman said by phone Friday morning. “He didn’t have a clear path to run. He’d been training well and I took the blinkers off.

“I think he’ll get better as he gets older. He hasn’t realized his potential yet and he’s a Cal-bred, so that gives us lots of options. There’s a possibility he could run in the Oceanside at Del Mar (one mile on grass opening day, July 18).”

Asked if any money was gleaned other than the $35,400 winner’s share, Sherman said, “I bet on him the last two times he ran, but not yesterday. I didn’t want to jinx him.”

D’AMATO HAS TWO FOR GRADE III WILSHIRE ON CLOSING DAY

Phil D’Amato, five behind training leader Doug O’Neill with three racing days remaining in the Spring Meet, sends out Ancient Secret and Storm the Hill in Sunday’s closing day feature, the Grade III Wilshire Stakes for fillies and mares, three and up, at a mile on turf.

Ancient Secret, a five-year-old New York-bred mare, is coming off three straight races at about 6 ½ furlongs down the hillside turf course, while Storm the Hill, a four-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Get Stormy, rallied for third despite lacking room in an overnight grass route at Churchill Downs on May 12.

“Ancient Secret already is a graded stakes winner on grass going long,” D’Amato pointed out, referring to the Grade II Lake George at Saratoga in July of 2016. “So I don’t think the stretch-out’s going to hurt her any.

“Storm the Hill is a new horse for me (having previously been conditioned by Eddie Kenneally) who is training very well It looks like the right spot to see what she can do.”

The $100,000 Wilshire: Beau Recall, Joe Talamo, 7-2; Sassy Little Lila, Mike Smith, 6-1; Shehastheritestuff, Edwin Maldonado, 30-1; Miss Julia Star, Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1; Sophie P, Kent Desormeaux, 3-1; Cordiality, Tyler Baze, 6-1; Storm the Hill, Rafael Bejarano, 8-1; Bella Luma, Gary Stevens, 15-1; and Ancient Secret, Flavien Prat, 7-2.

FINISH LINES: Congratulations to Evin Roman on winning Thursday’s sixth race aboard Ransomed ($17.60) for trainer Sal Gonzalez. It was the first victory for the 2017 Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s outstanding apprentice since recovering from a fractured left toe suffered on April 24 . . . Speedy recovery from a broken left ankle to veteran turf writer Art Wilson ofthe Southern California News Group . . . James Giannone, agent for Geovanni Franco, and Derek Lawson, agent for Flavien Prat, will be Tom Quigley’s guests, 10:50 a.m. Saturday and 11:20 a.m. Sunday, respectively, in the East Paddock Gardens . . . Among the 146 recorded workouts Friday, including 16 on the training track, was a three furlong breeze for Bob Baffert in 37.80 by Chasing Yesterday, a half-sister to 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS

(Current Through Thursday, June 21)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Flavien Prat 127 35 22 20 28% 61% $1,924,374
Geovanni Franco 167 27 23 19 16% 41% $1,233,696
Joseph Talamo 152 26 25 18 17% 45% $1,461,942
Mario Gutierrez 112 23 17 19 21% 53% $1,107,963
Drayden Van Dyke 116 20 20 16 17% 48% $1,160,040
Tiago Pereira 145 20 13 21 14% 37% $736,215
Asa Espinoza 153 19 19 27 12% 42% $608,570
Stewart Elliott 144 16 19 15 11% 35% $749,739
Tyler Baze 135 15 29 12 11% 41% $819,100
Martin Pedroza 106 15 16 13 14% 42% $499,870
Franklin Ceballos 118 14 11 9 12% 29% $427,643
Kent Desormeaux 95 14 9 23 15% 48% $976,660

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

Doug O’Neill 126 30 27 18 24% 60% $1,485,458
Philip D’Amato 101 25 18 23 25% 65% $1,561,803
Peter Miller 111 24 15 17 22% 50% $1,109,404
Richard Baltas 93 15 16 12 16% 46% $790,539
Vladimir Cerin 47 11 6 7 23% 51% $376,303
John Sadler 89 10 23 14 11% 53% $862,776
Jerry Hollendorfer 74 10 9 9 14% 38% $688,237
Bob Baffert 42 10 8 6 24% 57% $758,850
Mark Glatt 60 10 8 3 17% 35% $394,710
Peter Eurton 53 10 4 9 19% 43% $409,593