SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES – THURSDAY, OCT. 4, 2018

By Ed Golden —-

• ‘RANSOM’ IS SHARP FOR SA SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP
• STEVENS REUNITES WITH MAE NEVER NO SATURDAY
• LE KEN DEBUTS FOR McANALLY IN THE CITY OF HOPE
• RAINBOW PICK SIX TO OFFER HUGE GUARANTEED POOLS

RANSOM THE MOON ‘READY TO GO’ SATURDAY
Two-time Grade I winner Ransom the Moon worked four furlongs Monday in a bullet 47
flat for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Santa Anita Turf Championship for three-year-olds and up at six furlongs.
The six-year-old son of Malibu Moon went in company with Game Ground who was clocked in 48 flat.
“It was a good drill,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “He was kind of on his toes and he’s ready to go. We got a very good draw (five of five). It’s a small field, but thankfully we’ve got a nice outside post, so it will give Flavien (Prat) some options.”
Ransom the Moon has a 6-7-1 record from 24 starts with earnings of $848,829. The Santa Anita Sprint Championship carries $300,000 in purse money with $180,000 going to the winner. Should Ransom the Moon win, he would thus become a millionaire.
The field for the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, race five of 11: Horse Greedy, Stewart Elliott, 8-1; Roy H, Paco Lopez, 6-5; Distinctiv B, Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1; Edwards Going Left, Tyler Baze, 9-2; and Ransom the Moon, Flavien Prat, 7-5.
Catch Ransom the Moon’s latest work here.
Catch Edwards Going Left’s latest work here.

STEVENS ON SMART FILLY IN SPEAKEASY
Gary Stevens has ridden Mae Never No in two of her three starts, winning in her maiden voyage last May 3 at BelmontPark. One race hence, the two-year-old Irish-bred filly was third under Stevens against males in the Tremont at Belmont on June 8.
The Hall of Fame rider will be back aboard in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Speakeasy Stakes for two-year-olds at five furlongs on turf. The winner earns a fees-paid berth to the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 2.
“She’s a nice filly,” said Stevens of the bay trained by Wesley Ward for Ice Wine Stable. “She’s very intelligent, had a nice breeze here the other day and she should run well.”
The field for the $100,000 Speakeasy, race four: Its Gonna Hurt, Tiago Pereira; Whooping Jay, Evin Roman; Mae Never No, Gary Stevens; Midnight Mystery, Drayden Van Dyke; Hartel, Flavien Prat; Principe Carlo, Ruben Fuentes; and Owning, Joe Talamo.

McANALLY HAS LE KEN SET FOR CITY OF HOPE
Le Ken makes his first start for Ron McAnally in Saturday’s Grade II City of Hope Mile on turf. The five-year-old Argentine-bred horse is owned by Pozo de Luna Inc. but this won’t mark the first time the 86-year-old Hall of Fame trainer runs a horse for them.
“Interaction won the Grade II San Juan for Ron when he trained for them in 2013,” pointed out McAnally’s long-time assistant, Dan Landers. “He also won graded stakes for the owner with Suggestive Boy.”
McAnally, fourth all-time in stakes wins at The Great Race Place with 703, is considerably more than a Hall of Fame trainer. He has a keen eye for bloodlines, as witnessed by Liam the Charmer’s victory in Sunday’s Grade II John Henry Turf Championship
The gelding was bred by Ron and his wife, Deborah, and, no surprise to racing fans anywhere, McAnally trained two-time Horse of the Year John Henry.
“We received Le Ken at Del Mar and he’s been training well,” McAnally said of the bay horse, winless in eight U.S. starts but victorious five times in his native Argentina.
“I’m as anxious as anybody to see how he runs.”
The City of Hope, race nine: Double Touch, Alonso Quinonez, 6-1; White Flag, Kent Desormeaux, 5-1; Le Ken, Tyler Baze, 20-1; Flamboyant, Rafael Bejarano, 8-1; Ohio, Drayden Van Dyke, 8-1; $4,000 supplemental nominee Pyscho Sister, Edwin Maldonado, 20-1; Mithqaal, Paco Lopez, 12-1; Sharp Samurai, Gary Stevens, 2-1; and Fly to Mars, Flavien Prat, 5-2.

SANTA ANITA TO GUARANTEE $1 MILLION IN 20 CENT RAINBOW PICK SIX JACKPOT
Santa Anita Park will again guarantee $1 million in this Saturday and Sunday’s 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot pool and the track will also guarantee $500,000 in the Jackpot today and tomorrow, Oct. 4 & 5.
A tremendous success at Gulfstream Park, the 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six got off to a tremendous start here on opening day of the 22-day Autumn Meet this past Friday, as fans wagered $82,392 and one single ticket came within a length of taking down the track’s $250,000 Jackpot guarantee in the ninth and final race.
Although there were no Jackpot winners on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Rainbow Pick Six handle was brisk all three days, as players continue to discover they can cover 10 times the amount of horses now with the 20 cent minimum, compared to the original Pick Six, which carried a two dollar minimum.
With combined “Rainbow” handle up over three days compared to last year’s two dollar Pick Six, payouts were substantial. On Friday, six winning tickets were each worth $7,336.25. On Saturday, the 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six generated a pool of $251,385, resulting in 12 winning tickets, each worth $11,189. On Sunday, $221,946 in “new” money was wagered, which generated six winning tickets, each worth $8,469.20.
With 57 horses eligible to run in the 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six on Thursday, field size stands at 9.3 runners per race. On Friday, 61 horses are eligible to run, making for an average “Jackpot” field size of just over 10 runners per race.
With a conventional Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot carryover of $127,225 complementing Thursday’s $500,000 Jackpot pool guarantee, approximate post time for race three, the beginning of the Rainbow Six, is at 3 p.m. PT. First post time for a pair of eight-race programs on Thursday and Friday is at 1 p.m. First post time this Saturday, Sunday and Columbus Day, Monday, is at 12:30 p.m.
For additional information, including complete entries for both Thursday, Oct. 4 and Friday, Oct. 5, please visit www.santaanita.com.

FINISH LINES: John Sadler plans three breezes at Santa Anita for Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite and Horse of the Year candidate Accelerate before he leaves for Kentucky the week of the race, which will be run Nov. 4. “The first one is a week from Saturday (Oct. 13), and we’ll follow with works the following two Saturdays,” Sadler said . . . Bob Baffert reports champion Abel Tasman, who buried bridge jumpers with her fifth-place finish as the 1-10 favorite in Sunday’s Zenyatta Stakes, will be off a week before going back to the track to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 3 . . . Effective today, Nelson Arroyo represents jockey Stewart Elliott, while the latter’s former agent, Carolyn Conley, has the book of Brice Blanc . . . Ollie’s Candy, winner of the Summertime Oaks and second in the Del Mar Oaks, has been turned out and will prepare for a four-year-old campaign, trainer Bill Morey said . . . Workout analyst Andy Harrington and Tom Knust, agent for Mario Gutierrez, will be Tom Quigley’s guests, Saturday and Sunday respectively, 11:20 a.m. in the East Paddock Gardens . . . Having withdrawn his appeal of a suspension issued Aug. 19, Heriberto Figueroa will serve three days (Oct. 7, 8 and 12) . . . Jerry Hollendorfer assistant Dan Ward on leading all trainers with five wins through the first three days at Santa Anita’s 22-day Autumn meet: “We’re entering a lot of horses and the races are filling.” . . . Correction: Smiling Tiger is alive and has not gone to that great race track in the sky as previously reported. He continues to maintain a prominent position on the stallion roster at Harris Farms in Coalinga . . . There will be holiday racing Monday, Oct. 8. Fans can celebrate Columbus Day with dollar beers and sodas and $2 hot dogs. First post time is 12:30 p.m. Admission gates open at 10:30 a.m. Two stakes will be decided, the $100,000 Zuma Beach for two-year-olds at a mile on turf, and the $100,000 Surfer Girl for two-year-old fillies on turf . . . . . . Belated birthday wishes to racing icon Huey Barnes, who celebrated No. 85 Wednesday by playing nine holes of golf at Rancho Duarte. Asked how he fared, Barnes, who came to California in 1954 with Charlie Whittingham and has been a member of the gate crew for 40 years, summed it up in one word: “bad.” But agent Tommy Ball, his playing partner, has seen him do better. “On a good day,” Ball said, “he’ll shoot par, and I’ll tell you this: he’s the best-dressed player on the course.”

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.