SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES

By Mike Willman —-

HAT TRICK FOR BREEDER ALLEN POINDEXTER ON SATURDAY
MIDCOURT CARRIES KOBE’S COLORS INTO THE RUNHAPPY WINNER’S CIRCLE
CHIEFS OR 49ers? HORSEMEN AREN’T PUNTING
COME FOR THE RACES AND STAY FOR BIG GAME SUNDAY AT 11:30 AM
POINDEXTER BREEDS THREE STRAIGHT WINNERS ON SATURDAY

In a true racing rarity, breeder Allen Poindexter bred the winners of the first three races on Saturday at Santa Anita, beginning with Iowa-bred Posit in the first race, a 5 ½ furlong turf allowance. A 4-year-old filly by Cairo Prince, out of Chanel Number Mine, by Value Plus, Posit, who is owned by Reddam Racing, LLC, trained by Simon Callaghan and ridden by Mario Gutierrez, paid $32.20.

In race two, a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs, Kentucky-bred Clivetty reported home on top under Joel Rosario. A filly by Into Mischief, out of Rosemonde, by Indian Charlie, Clivetty, a first time starter, was purchased for $900,000 by OXO Equine, LLC at a 2-year-old in training sale in Ocala, Fla. Trained by Don Chatlos, Jr., she was off at 5-1 and paid $13.80 to win.

Poindexter’s amazing natural hat trick was culminated when his second Iowa-bred, Auberge, reported home on top as the 3-5 favorite in race three, a first condition allowance for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs. Trained by Bob Baffert (who thereby collected his 2,999th North American win), this 3-year-old filly by Palace City, out of Prenuptial Vow, by Broken Vow, sold for $570,000 at the Fasig Tipton Mid-Atlantic May 2-year-olds in Training Sale. Owned by Speedway Stable, LLC, Auberge, who was most recently second in the Grade II Santa Ynez Stakes Jan. 5, won by 2 ¼ lengths with Drayden Van Dyke up and paid $3.20 to win.

MIDCOURT CARRIES KOBE’S COLORS INTO THE RUNHAPPY WINNER’S CIRCLE

By Mark Whicker, So Cal Newspaper Group

Victor Espinoza rode back toward the finish line, in purple and gold finery. He was returning from a nice Saturday drive. Midcourt, the 4-year-old, lunged to the front in the San Pasqual Stakes and never slowed down, winning by a widening three-and-a-half lengths. The physicality was obvious. But Lee Searing, the steel executive from Rancho Cucamonga, saw the mentality.

“We’ve named our horses after basketball and the Lakers for years,” Searing said. Those last few years, the main reason I went to those games was to see Kobe.”

Bryant remains inescapable, even here, even six days on. A longshot in the fifth race at Santa Anita was named Majestic Gigi, and, sure enough, she wore No. 2 and was even leading at the top of the stretch. Midcourt was matched up with Roadster, once a Kentucky Derby winter favorite for Bob Baffert. The favorite was Restrainedvengeance, who thought he had Midcourt in his sights but practically needed binoculars at the end.

With John Shirreffs training, Midcourt has won five of his past six races. “He’s a goofball,” Searing said, “He just didn’t want to train. If you could stand beside the barn and see the little things John puts him through, it’s amazing. Now he can’t wait to get out there and compete. And we gelded him, which helped. I’ve only had one other horse in the Santa Anita Handicap, so this is exciting. This is the best he’s ever run.”

But Searing also thought of Kobe’s Back, who won five times in 26 races for him and brought in more than $1.1 million. In 2016 he won two stakes races at Santa Anita within a month. Searing never met Bryant but he did get a small note, relayed through a friend. “You gave him a good name,” it read.

Kobe’s Back also ran in a Breeders Cup sprint at Keeneland, and in 2015 he and Gary Stevens lost by a neck to Wild Dude in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

“If he’d won that one he’d be a stallion in Kentucky,” Searing said. “Now he’s a stallion in Maryland. But a lot of people have been asking me about him this week.”

Roadster was a no-factor sixth in the San Pasqual, but Baffert, as usual, had already had his moments. A 3-year-old filly named Auberge won the third race, and, three races later, Kentucky Derby contender Thousand Words brought it home in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes over Royal Act, also owned by Searing, and High Velocity, another Baffert horse.

That was Baffert’s 3,000th win as a thoroughbred trainer. He ranks 32nd all time, but he is seventh in win percentage (23 percent) and sixth in finishing win, place or show (53%). “It’s just a number,” Baffert said, when it clearly was not. He later said he was thinking about 3,000 when his horse was beginning to take control on the far turn.

“Thousand Words, 3,000 wins, I mean, you can’t make this stuff up,” Baffert said. “And to do it in a race named after one of my all-time favorite owners (Robert B. Lewis) just makes it more special.

“I can’t remember the first one. But I do remember a horse named Presidents Summit.”

In late 1988 Baffert was still just a quarter-horse cowboy from southern Arizona. “I was struggling,” he said. His friend Bob Baedeker pointed him to Presidents Summit, who won a claiming race.

“I’m trying to run down to the winners circle, I’ve got my cowboy hat on,” Baffert said. “I really needed a horse like that.”

Presidents Summit would win twice more. Pretty soon Baffert got better talent, and one thing led to another, and another thing led to 15 wins in Triple Crown races, and two Triple Crowns. Thousand Words is now 3-for-3, by margins of a neck, a half-length, and three-fourths of a length. “He won’t blow you away in the middle of the week,” Baffert said. “He’s a hard horse to ride, because he doesn’t always want to work. But he shows up when the race starts.”

Flavien Prat did the honors. A few minutes later he rode United to victory in the San Marcos, for 4-year-olds on grass. United shook up Santa Anita in November when he made Bricks and Mortar, the 2019 Horse of the Year, dig as hard as he could to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf by a head.

Meanwhile, Searing has a buzzer-beating horse that could be playing well into the fall. But he was already looking ahead. “We have a filly named Lady Mamba, too,” Searing said. “So we’ve got to breed Kobe’s Back to Lady Mamba. I mean, that’s going to happen.”

FINISH LINES: … …Two out of Flavien Prat’s three victories yesterday came in stakes races, with Thousand Words in the Grade III Robert B. Lewis and United the Grade II San Marcos…Thousand Words gave Hall of Famer Bob Baffert his 3,000th career win. Agapito Delgadillo who rode Siberian Tigah in the first race on Jan. 31 is suspended for three racing days Feb. 8, 9 &14, for altering course without sufficient clearance after the start and resulting in a disqualification from second to third…Notable works among a total of 134 with 21 in the training track this morning: Kingly, nominated to the Thunder Road, went 5 furlongs in 1:02.60 for Baffert, Majestic Eagle, also nominated to the Thunder Road, drilled 5 furlongs on the training track in 1:02.60 for Neil Drysdale, Go Big Blue Nation, nominated to Las Virgenes worked 4 furlongs in :48.20 for Michael McCarthy, Improbable’ s first recorded work since the Breeders’ Cup 3 furlongs in :36.80 Baffert, John Sadler’s Gift Box worked 4 furlongs in :49.60 …Santa Anita offers $2 beer and $6 specialty cocktails each Friday at designated locations throughout the track. Specialty cocktails include a Baldwin Buck, Margarita and other selected cocktails. There is also free Club House and General Admission each Friday . . . FIRST POST ON BIG GAME SUNDAY, FEB. 2., IS EARLY AT 11:30 A.M. COME FOR THE RACES AND STAY FOR THE BIG GAME!…LIVE RACING RESUMES ON FRIDAY, WITH FIRST POST TIME AT 1 P.M.

LATEST CONTENT FROM XBTV:

FEATURES:

XBTV Sunday: What to Watch for at Santa Anita Park on February 2nd, 2020

Quick Questions With Assistant Starter Huey Barnes

WORKOUTS:
Tiny Tina ( D’Amato) 2-2-20

Improbable (Baffert) 2-2-20

Majestic Eagle (Outside) and Last Opportunity (Drysdale) 2-2-20

Kingly (Baffert) 2-2-20

Frontier Market (Outside) and Sea of Liberty (Sadler) 2-1-20

Ohio (McCarthy) 2-1-20

St. Joe Bay (Sadler) 2-1-20