SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES

By Ed Golden —-

STABLE NOTES
BY
ED GOLDEN
FRIDAY, OCT. 5, 2018

• SADLER GOES FOR SPRINT UPSET WITH TWO ON SATURDAY
• WHERE THERE’S SHARP SAMURAI, THERE’S ALWAYS ‘HOPE’
• OWNING SHORTENS UP IN ‘WIN AND YOU’RE IN’ SPEAKEASY
• TRAINER ALFREDO MARQUEZ IS HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT
• SANTA ANITA RAINBOW PICK SIX JACKPOT FIRM AT $500,000
• STRONACH 5 STARTS IN FIRST RACE AT SANTA ANITA TODAY

SADLER HAS PAIR FOR ‘BEST’ BREEDERS’ CUP SPRINT PREP
John Sadler has 40 percent of the five horses entered in Saturday’s Grade I, Breeders’
Cup “Win and You’re In” Santa Anita Sprint Championship, but the trainer recognizes the six furlong race is not a walk in the park.
“Both horses have good form,” Sadler said of Edwards Going Left and recent $40,000 claim Horse Greedy, each owned by principal client Hronis Racing. “Edwards Going Left was kind of unlucky last time (losing by a neck in the restricted E.B. Johnston Stakes going a mile at Los Alamitos Sept. 8).
“He was much the best and got beat two heads, and he’s good on this track (five wins, a second and a third in nine starts at Santa Anita). Horse Greedy won his last start and was a good third in the Grade II San Carlos before that.
“It’s a tough race, probably the best (Breeders’ Cup Sprint) prep, but we’re going to be in there trying and we’ll see what happens.”
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.
Edwards Going Left’s latest work (video).

GLATT SEEKS BETTER LUCK FOR ‘WIN MACHINE’
With seven victories from 13 starts, Sharp Samurai assuredly knows where the winner’s circle is, although his chances were compromised by a troubled trip when third in the Grade II Del Mar Handicap last out on Aug. 19.
Trainer Mark Glatt hopes for better luck in Saturday’s grassy Grade II City of Hope Mile.
“We think he’s doing well going in and we’ll see how he does for us,” said Glatt, who has a share of the ownership with Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal. “It looked like his last race was going to come down to him and Catapult (who won the Del Mar Mile Handicap), but unfortunately, Gary (Stevens) had to take up.
“It was disappointing that we didn’t get a fair chance to win the race, but we’ll see what happens on Saturday.”
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.
Mark Glatt talks Sharp Samurai (video).

OWNING DOING WELL FOR ‘WIN AND YOU’RE IN’ SPEAKEASY
Owning shortens up to five furlongs on turf for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Speakeasy Stakes for two-year-olds at five furlongs on turf.
The gray son of Flashback trained by Simon Callaghan for Reddam Racing was seventh after a slow start in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf at a mile on grass.
“He’s training well and I think he’ll like the return to a sprint,” Callaghan said. “He’s got a good post and I’d say it’s an open race.”
The field for the $100,000 Speakeasy, race four: Its Gonna Hurt, Tiago Pereira, 5-1; Whooping Jay, Evin Roman, 8-1; Mae Never No, Gary Stevens, 2-1; Midnight Mystery, Drayden Van Dyke, 4-1; Hartel, Flavien Prat, 5-2; Principe Carlo, Ruben Fuentes, 20-1; and Owning, Joe Talamo, 5-1.
Gary Stevens talks Mae Never No (video)
Owning’s latest work (video).

EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES FOR MARQUEZ
With apologies to Donna Fargo, Alfredo Marquez is the happiest man in the whole USA. In the dictionary under “ebullient,” there should be a picture of Marquez.
Ask the 70-year-old trainer how things are on any given day and his answer will inevitably be “super-excellent.”
His bright and sunny outlook is omnipresent. “I was born at the track, I love being here and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” said Marquez, who saddled Starting Bloc to win Thursday’s seventh race by a length under Rafael Bejarano, coming from eighth and last at 3-1 in the starter allowance race worth $19,200 to the winner.
It was one of five horses Marquez currently has in training. “My limit is nine,” said the native of Tijuana, who still commutes to and from the border city four or five times a week.
“I don’t want more than nine because I have two grooms and two hot walkers, and that’s it,” he noted.
“Having good friends and being around horses keep me optimistic. I just love it. If I’m away from the track two or three days, I feel guilty leaving my horses. I don’t take more than five days vacation a year.”
Marquez, who has been in racing since 1964, is married (his wife is Angela) and has three daughters and a son, all teachers. His son Jonathan Alfredo teaches speech therapy in San Diego to children with autism.
Marquez recognizes that racing is a game with more disappointments than triumphs, but he rolls with the punches. “Like I tell my owners,” he said, “you win a race, you enjoy it until the next horse runs, because percentages dictate that it’s not going to win.
“You hope you win every race, but you can’t.”
But that doesn’t keep Alfredo Marquez from looking at the glass as half full.

SANTA ANITA RAINBOW PICK SIX JACKPOT POOL GUARANTEED AT $500,000
Santa Anita Park will guarantee $500,000 in today’s 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot pool and with 61 horses eligible to run in the Rainbow Six sequence, field size stands at just over 10 runners per race.
Instituted for the first time at Santa Anita this past Friday, opening day of the track’s 22-day Autumn Meet, the 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six enables players to cover 10-times as many horses as with the traditional two dollar minimum Pick Six.
With “new money” accounting for a Rainbow Six pool today of $133,840, there were 33 winning tickets, each worth $2,180.75.
If no one hits the “Jackpot” today, Santa Anita will guarantee $1 million in Saturday’s Rainbow Jackpot and the track will also guarantee $1 million into Sunday’s Jackpot pool if no one strikes gold on Saturday.
Approximate post time for today’s third race, the beginning of the 20 cent Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot, is at 2:03 p.m. PT
For additional racing information, please visit Santa Anita’s ‘Live Racing’ page.

STRONACH FIVE STARTS TODAY WITH SANTA ANITA’S FIRST RACE
With a guaranteed pool of $50,000, the newly minted one dollar Stronach 5, which offers players an industry-low 12 percent takeout, will be run each Friday throughout Santa Anita’s current 22-day Autumn Meet and will begin with today’s third race at Santa Anita, a one mile test for 2-year-old maiden fillies in for a $40,000 tag that has an approximate post time of 2:03 p.m. PT.
The Stronach 5 will then shift to Gulfstream Park West, for their eighth race, which has an approximate post time of 2:10 p.m. Leg 3 will be Laurel Park’s ninth race, which is set to go at 2:22 p.m. Leg 4 remains at Laurel, with their 10th race, with an approximate post of 2:54 p.m.
Today’s Stronach 5 will conclude back at Santa Anita, with our fifth race, which has an assigned post time of 3:08 p.m.

FINISH LINES: Flavien Prat won three races Thursday to lead all jockeys with five victories after four days of Santa Anita’s 22-day Autumn Meet. “We were cautiously optimistic on all three horses,” said Prat’s agent, Derek Lawson. “It’s a good start and we hope to keep it going.” . . . Eswan Flores, invading from Emerald Downs, will begin riding at Santa Anita shortly. The 25-year-old native of Jalisco won 51 races from 296 mounts at the Washington track His agent will be 86-year-old Vince DeGregory, who has represented eight Hall of Fame members in his long and storied career: Angel Cordero Jr., Victor Espinoza, Chris McCarron, Bill Shoemaker, Alex Solis, Laffit Pincay Jr., Jacinto Vasquez and Jorge Velasquez, in addition to Darrel McHargue and others . . . There will be holiday racing this Monday. Fans can celebrate Columbus Day with dollar beers and sodas and $2 hot dogs. First post time is 12:30 p.m. . . . Apprentice Heriberto Figueroa rides Barretts Debutante winner Kim K for Peter Miller today in the Grade I Alcibiades at Keeneland Richard Mandella talks Rubilinda ahead of her first start for his barn (video).