Santa Anita Stable Notes Saturday, February 4, 2023

STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN
SATURDAY, FEB. 4, 2023 —-

GLATT DOUBLE-BARRELED IN SUNDAY’S GII PALOS VERDES
GIII SAN MARCOS FEATURES A HEAVY DOSE OF D’AMATO
‘1/ST RACING TOUR’ AIRS SATURDAY ON CNBC, PEACOCK
MANDATORY RAINBOW 6 PAYOUT ON SUNDAY
COAST TO COAST PICK 5 RETURNS SATURDAY
SANTA ANITA ADDS RACE CARD FOR FRIDAY, FEB. 24

GLATT IS DOUBLE-BARRELED IN SUNDAY’S GII PALOS VERDES
While Mark Glatt has connected at a 24 percent clip (9-for-32) during the Classic Meet and ranks fourth in the trainer’s standings, entering Saturday’s action the barn has had nary a stakes win. Glatt will look to remedy that situation on Sunday when he sends out favorite Howbeit and long shot Escape Route in the Grade II Palos Verdes going six furlongs on dirt.
Howbeit, who is 2-1 on Jon White’s morning line, returns to Santa Anita where he registered the biggest win of his career in last October’s Grade II Santa Anita Sprint Championship. Following that nose victory over C Z Rocket – who returned a month later to run second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland – Howbeit caught what may have been the toughest allowance race of the year in California.
Going six furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 20, Howbeit checked in fourth behind Get Her Number, Ginbobili and Forbidden Kingdom. Get Her Number would come back to be second in the Grade I Cigar Mile at Aqueduct while Ginobili would return to win the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Forbidden Kingdom would next run second in the Grade I Malibu on opening day at Santa Anita behind Eclipse Award finalist Taiba.
“That might as well have been a graded stakes,” Glatt said.
While it has been more than two months since that effort, Glatt noted Howbeit has continued in steady training but “we had nowhere to run him.
“He’s coming in good and it looks like he’ll be real competitive in that spot,” Glatt said. “He’s already won a graded stakes and is fairly live.”
A 6-year-old horse by Secret Circle, Howbeit has banked $366,986 with a record of 7-3-2 from 26 starts. In the Palos Verdes, Howbeit will break from post three under Hall of Famer Mike Smith. He could get an ideal trip. Howbeit does his best running from just off the pace and drawn to his inside are a pair of speed horses.
“It looks like he’ll get a stalking trip,” Glatt said. “The rail horse (Straight No Chaser) and the two horse (Hopkins) look like they can knock heads early on. We should get some position and see what happens.”
As for Escape Route, he’ll be returning from a nearly eight-month layoff with Geovanni Franco in the irons. He was a first-level allowance winner here last spring before going to Kentucky where he made two starts, including a runner-up in a second-level allowance going seven furlongs at Keeneland.
“He runs well fresh,” Glatt said. “He’s fit and looks like he fits with this group.”
The Palos Verdes goes as the seventh race with an approximate post time of 3:38 p.m. The field in post position order: Straight No Chaser, Edwin Maldonado (5-1); Hopkins, Juan Hernandez (5-2); Howbeit, Mike Smith (2-1); Escape Route, Geovanni Franco, 10-1; Radical Right, Flavien Prat (5-2); McLaren Vale, Kazushi Kimura (6-1).

GRADE III SAN MARCOS FEATURES A HEAVY DOSE OF D’AMATO

Entering Saturday’s card, trainer Phil D’Amato’s four stakes wins at the Classic meet ranked second behind only Bob Baffert, who has six added-money scores. But one stakes that got away from D’Amato came on opening day in the Grade II San Gabriel when he saddled favorite Masteroffoxhounds and second-choice Prince Abama,
In the San Gabriel going 1 1/8 miles, Masteroffoxhounds attended the pace had the lead in mid-stretch before getting overtaken by a pair of stablemates for Leonard Powell, winner Dicey Mo Chara and runner-up Flashiest. In Sunday’s Grade III San Marcos at 1 ¼ miles, Masteroffoxhounds and Prince Abama will be among four starters for D’Amato trying to upend Dicey Mo Chara, who is the lukewarm 3-1 favorite in a 10-horse field. Also entered for D’Amato are long shot Cash Equity and Say the Word, a multiple graded-stakes winner who returns from a year layoff.
Masteroffoxhounds went favored in the San Gabriel based off his win in the Grade II John Henry going 1 ¼ miles at Santa Anita in October followed by a neck loss in the Grade II Seabiscuit at Del Mar on Nov. 6. He has worked three times since the San Gabriel
D’Amato is expecting a bounce-back effort from the 6-year-old War Front horse, partially because of the turf condition. While the course for the San Gabriel was rated as firm, the race was run following days of rain that fell on Arcadia.
“He’ll get a firmer turf course this time. It was rain-drenched (in the San Gabriel) and he likes to hear his feet rattle,” D’Amato said.
Masteroffoxhounds will also be reunited with jockey Umberto Rispoli, who in the Oct. 1 John Henry piloted him to a front-running victory.
“We’re looking forward to running him,” D’Amato said.
Prince Abama won the Grade II Hollywood Turf Cup going 1 ½ miles at Del Mar prior to the San Gabriel. D’Amato noted in the San Gabriel the 5-year-old Irish-bred gelding ran into trouble in the stretch. The chart notes Prince Abama, who was ridden by Flavien Prat, “bid between foes at the eighth pole but lost his path midstretch.
““He kind of had a little traffic trouble and I think Flavien will have him in a better spot this time,” D’Amato said.
Say the Word has been sidelined since last year’s San Marco on Jan. 30 when he finished third. In 2021, the now 8-year-old gelding by More Than Rady won the Grade II Hollywood Turf Cup and Grade II Elkhorn at Keeneland.
“He just had a bunch of little things. One thing after another after another,” D’Amato said of the lengthy layoff for Say the Word. “It was nothing major. He probably would have been ready to run a month ago, but he really got inundated with the weather we had. Every time I wanted to breeze him it was something.”
Say the Word got back to work on Dec. 5 and the tab shows a 14 day gap from Dec. 31 until Jan. 14. He added two more five-furlong moves in the leadup to Sunday.
“He has come back really good. He’s had two nice back-to-back one-minute drills,” D’Amato said. “He should come with his good late kick and get him back in the swing of things for the marathon series here at Santa Anita.”
Cash Equity is exiting a fifth in the Hollywood Turf Cup. He will be ridden for the first time by Jessica Pyfer.
“We’re taking a shot with Cash Equity,” D’Amato said. “He trains really well in the morning and maybe one day he’ll reproduce that in the afternoon.”
The San Marcos goes as the sixth race on Sunday with an approximate post time of 3:06 p.m. The field in post position order: Evan Harlan, Edwin Maldonado (20-1); Masteroffoxhounds, Umberto Rispoli (4-1); Opry, Frankie Dettori (12-1); Prince Abama, Flavien Prat (5-1); Yes This Time, Joe Bravo (12-1); Cash Equity, Jessica Pyfer (15-1); Dicey Mo Chara, Juan Hernandez (3-1); Say the Word, Kent Desormeaux (4-1); The Grey Wizard, John Velazquez (5-1); Avenue, Kazushi Kimura (12-1).

INAUGURAL 1/ST RACING TOUR AIRS SATURDAY ON CNBC, PEACOCK

The launch of the 1/ST Racing Tour on Saturday will be broadcast live on CNBC and Peacock beginning at 1 p.m. The two-hour program will feature five stakes races from Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park led by the Grade III Robert B. Lewis and Grade III Holy Bull.
Ahmed Fareed will host the broadcast alongside analyst and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, analyst Randy Moss, reporter Britney Eurton and handicapper Matt Bernier. Eurton will report live on-site from Santa Anita.

MANDATORY RAINBOW 6 PAYOUT ON SUNDAY

There will be a mandatory payout of the Rainbow Pick 6 Jackpot on Sunday at Santa Anita. The Rainbow Pick 6 is a 20-cent minimum wager.
Entering Saturday’s card, the Rainbow Pick 6 has a carryover of $320,048. Providing there is no single ticket winner on Saturday, track officials project Sunday’s total Rainbow 6 pool will exceed $3 million.
The Rainbow 6 kicks off with the fourth race at approximately 2:04 p.m. The sequence has an average field size of 8.6 starters per race.

SATURDAY’S COAST TO COAST PICK 5 IS AN ALL-STAKES AFFAIR

The 1/ST Coast to Coast Pick 5 returns Saturday with a sequence featuring all stakes races from Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park. It is a $1 minimum wager with a player-friendly takeout of 15 percent.
The Coast to Coast Pick 5 kicks off at 1:17 with the 10th race from Gulfstream Park, the Grade III Forward Gal for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs on dirt. Things then shift to Santa Anita for its fourth race, the Grade III Megahertz for fillies and mares at one mile on turf.
The third leg of the sequence is the Grade III Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream for 3-year-old fillies going long on turf. The final two races in the sequence are the Grade III Holy Bull at Gulfstream, which is an official prep for the Kentucky Derby, and the Grade III Thunder Road for older horses going one mile on turf.
Last Sunday’s Coast to Coast Pick 5 returned $4,019.10 to 39 winning tickets.

Finish Lines: Santa Anita will conduct live racing on Friday, Feb. 24, which was originally scheduled to be a dark day. First post time will be at 12:30 p.m. The card has been added as a makeup for weather-related cancellations earlier in the Classic Meet…Every Friday during the Classic Meet on-track patrons will receive free admission, free parking and drink specials that include $3 beers and $5 margaritas…Trey Stiles, a 21-time qualifier for the National Handicapping Championship, will be Tom Quigley’s featured handicapping guest Sunday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 10:50… Entering Saturday’s action, favorites have won at 28.28 percent clip at the Classic meet.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS
(Current Through Friday, February 3, 2023 Inclusive)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Juan Hernandez 97 29 20 13 30% 64% $2,313,656
Edwin Maldonado 65 10 12 7 15% 45% $603,680
Tiago Pereira 28 10 3 1 36% 50% $352,620
Lanfranco Dettori 47 8 5 8 17% 45% $533,120
Ramon Vazquez 68 8 5 6 12% 28% $742,832
John Velazquez 49 7 7 7 14% 43% $629,940
Mike Smith 28 7 4 3 25% 50% $635,500
Flavien Prat 93 6 24 17 6% 51% $859,620
Umberto Rispoli 51 6 4 11 12% 41% $416,900
Armando Aguilar 58 6 2 9 10% 29% $254,240

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

Bob Baffert 52 14 13 7 27% 65% $1,477,740
Doug O’Neill 63 10 11 7 16% 44% $655,580
Philip D’Amato 59 9 13 12 15% 58% $1,100,300
Mark Glatt 38 9 7 4 24% 53% $498,440
Steve Knapp 37 8 3 5 22% 43% $333,480
John Sadler 50 7 6 8 14% 42% $535,220
George Papaprodromou 63 6 4 10 10% 32% $309,820
Peter Miller 30 5 3 0 17% 27% $331,232
Jeff Mullins 25 4 7 4 16% 60% $342,960
Michael McCarthy 36 4 5 6 11% 42% $366,060

About The Stronach Group and 1/ST
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