SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES – TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2019

By Ed Golden —-

BEAUTIFUL NEW YEAR’S MORNING AT SANTA ANITA PARK
ZOE METZ

• HORSEMEN SEEK HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR
• DAN BLACKER DEDICATED TO MAKING HIS MARK
• SHIRREFFS EYES SANTA MONICA FOR ‘PARADISE’

Any post-New Year’s Eve reveling quickly became last year’s news for most horsemen early Tuesday, as it was business as usual on a brisk New Year’s Day morning at Santa Anita, lending to an opportunity for random resolutions in 2019.

Richard Baltas: “Stay healthy.”
Huey Barnes (85-year-old assistant starter who came to Santa Anita with Charlie Whittingham in 1954): “I hope 2019 is good to us, we stay healthy and keep going.”
Jeff Bonde: “I just hope we have a good year and strive to do better.”
Val Brinkerhoff: “Get a Grade I winner.”
Bronx native Jim Cassidy: “For the Yankees to win the World Series.”
Matt Chew: “Just enjoy each day.”
Phil D’Amato: “Not to talk to jockeys after the race.”
Peter Eurton: “To be patient.”
Mark Glatt: “Win more races, hopefully.”
Eoin Harty: “Check back with me in 30 days.”
Jerry Hollendorfer: “Try and do a better job.”
Dallas Keen: “Win some races, but the bottom line is you’ve got to have the horses.”
Brian Koriner (whose stable has been on a roll): “I’m not changing anything right now.”
Eric Kruljac: “Stay upright the whole year.”
Dan Landers (assistant to 86-year-old Hall of Fame member Ron McAnally): “Keep on going, have a better year.”
Bill Morey: “Win some races.”
George Papaprodromou: “Good health.”
Mike Puype: “Hope for a better year ahead.”
Mick Ruis: “For Richie Baltas to win some races.”
Tom Knust: “To finish the movie I’ve been working on for 20 years. It’s called ‘Ducks in a Tree.’”
John Shirreffs (who surfed the balmy waves in Hawaii in his youth): “Stay warm.”
Gary Stute: “I don’t make resolutions. That way I’m not disappointed when I break them I have a few bad habits I want to keep.”
Kathy Walsh: “Keep everybody healthy and for racing to move forward.”
Dan Ward: “Always try to be positive.”

BLACKER HAS THE GOODS TO REACH RACING’S APEX

Dan Blacker is a welcome newcomer to Southern California.

The young lion is bent on leading his pride on a path through the ever-challenging jungle that is racing and reach the game’s apex. At 36, he already has a world-class foundation.

A native of England, slight of build with an accent a trace more noticeable, Blacker has been training on his own for six years

“I was an assistant trainer in England and also a participant in Godolphin’s Flying Start Program, which eventually led me to America,” Blacker said. “It focuses on management training and is sponsored by Sheikh Mohammad of Dubai.

“He takes 12 graduates from around the world every two years to learn about racing and breeding. It’s a pretty incredible program. I was very lucky to get on.

“Over here, I did an internship with Richard Mandella, who kindly offered me a job.
After that, I never left the U.S. That was in 2007. I worked with him for two years, went to the East Coast and worked with Tom Albertrani for three years, then came back and started on my own in 2012.”

Married to TVG host Christina Blacker, Dan has some 32 head now in training, “23 at Santa Anita, some with Michele Dollase at San Luis Rey and a couple at the farm. Everything is in rotation.”

Blacker also is excited about some promising two-year-olds, among them an unraced English Channel colt owned by Calumet Farm named Hackberry, and a California-bred filly named Scarlet Heat.

Mature beyond his years, Blacker realizes full well racing is an insatiable master, yet he is unyielding in his commitment.

“Working seven days a week is tough on my wife and family (the Blackers have three young girls: Margo, five, Violette, three, and Eliza, one),” Dan said. “I try as best I can to spend time with them, but the barn is almost all-consuming because if you miss the slightest detail, it can cost you a race, and every win counts, every race counts.

“There’s no worse feeling than getting beat and knowing you could have done something more to have won. You’ve got to be super-conscientious.”

When it comes to values and priorities, Dan Blacker’s are right on point.

FINISH LINES: It was a welcome surprise to John Shirreffs when he recently received multiple Grade I winner Paradise Woods from the barn of Richard Mandella. Shirreffs already has supervised three half-mile drills for the daughter of Union Rags, winner of the Grade I Zenyatta Stakes and the Grade I Santa Anita Oaks in 2017. “We’re hoping to make the Santa Monica with her,” Shirreffs said, referring to the Grade II test at seven furlongs on Feb. 16 . . Hall of Fame great and three-time Kentucky Derby winner Kent Desormeaux is six career wins shy of 6,000 in North America, standing at 5,994 . . . Owner/trainer Mick Ruis has 17 head at Santa Anita under the guidance of daughter Shelbe. Mick also has 19 head at Keeneland and has been in contact of former Santa Anita Stakes Coordinator Chris Merz, now Racing Secretary at Laurel, seeking to land a string at the Maryland oval . . . Minutia to the max: Vow to bet on jockeys whose last names end in a vowel. Riders with such monikers won all eight races
at Santa Anita Monday: Joel Rosario (Offshore, $6) in the first; Edwin Maldonado (Trappiza, $10.60) in the second; Joe Talamo (Brandothebartender, $9.80 in the third); Talamo again in the fourth (on Route Sixty Six, $8); Geovanni Franco (Count Alexander, $15) in the fifth; Heriberto Figueroa (Tiz a Master, $31.80 in the sixth); Figueroa again in the seventh (Tell Me More, $9.20); and Tiago Pereira (Unleash the Tiger, $23.40) in the eighth . . . Santa Anita will be dark for live racing Wednesday and Thursday, and resume live action Friday, Jan. 4 at 12:30 p.m. Santa Anita will be open for simulcast wagering Thursday, Jan. 3 with free general admission and free parking. Admission gates open at 10 a.m. . . . Garrett Gomez would have been 47 today.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS
(Current Through Monday, Dec. 31, 2018)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Joel Rosario 33 6 7 5 18% 55% $565,042
Flavien Prat 28 6 4 3 21% 46% $534,962
Heriberto Figueroa 24 6 1 2 25% 38% $191,772
Rafael Bejarano 21 3 3 3 14% 43% $176,099
Joseph Talamo 21 3 2 3 14% 38% $200,408
Mike Smith 11 3 1 3 27% 64% $311,089
Edwin Maldonado 13 3 1 0 23% 31% $128,030
Geovanni Franco 22 2 3 0 9% 23% $125,043
Drayden Van Dyke 22 2 1 4 9% 32% $134,172
Brice Blanc 12 2 1 1 17% 33% $81,560
Martin Pedroza 8 2 0 0 25% 25% $24,920

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

Richard Baltas 26 5 7 3 19% 58% $303,588
Doug O’Neill 20 5 0 1 25% 30% $154,937
Peter Miller 14 3 1 1 21% 36% $97,132
William E. Morey 10 3 1 0 30% 40% $62,395
Jeff Mullins 13 2 1 4 15% 54% $281,233
J. Keith Desormeaux 10 2 1 2 20% 50% $87,225
John Sadler 12 2 1 1 17% 33% $220,835
Ryan Hanson 4 2 1 0 50% 75% $36,645
Bob Baffert 12 2 0 2 17% 33% $292,616
Brian Koriner 5 2 0 1 40% 60% $223,605
Richard Mandella 6 2 0 1 33% 50% $75,438
Vladimir Cerin 9 2 0 1 22% 33% $129,525

For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.
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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.