Santa Anita Stable Notes Thursday, March 21, 2024

STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN
THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024

$2.5 MILLION QUALITY ROAD COLT DEBUTS FRIDAY FOR SADLER
Set to be unveiled in Friday’s first race at Santa Anita is Metro, a 3-year-old Quality Road colt who sold for a sale-high $2.5 million at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Trained by John Sadler, Metro debuts on turf in a six-furlong maiden heat set to go at 1 p.m. PT. He is installed as the 8-5 favorite on the morning line and will have Santa Anita leading rider Juan Hernandez in the irons.

Sadler Thursday morning noted Metro “was a little behind body-wise as a 2-year-old,” last year, which led to the belated start to his racing career.

“Now he’s grown up and is improving every week,” Sadler said Thursday morning. “It’s time to get him to the races.”

Metro began working in late November at Santa Anita. On Monday, he signaled his readiness with a four-furlong work in 47.40 seconds, which was the third-fastest of 55 moves at the distance.

“We had a couple of starts and stops with him, but the last 45 days he’s really been doing good,” Sadler said.

Monday’s work came in company with unraced stablemate Western Power, who also debuts in Friday’s first race. Western Power, by Liam’s Map, was a $350,000 auction buy as a yearling. Campaigned by Hronis Racing, Lane’s End Racing and Bee Zee LLC, Western Power is listed at 12-1 on the morning line.

“A lot of these Liam Map’s like the turf. We’ll see what he shows us first out,” Sadler said.

As for Metro, he is out of stakes-placed True Feelings, by Latent Heat. True Feelings has produced a trio of six-figure earners in graded-stakes placed Royal Act ($148k), stakes winner Feeling Mischief ($118k) and Forge ($227k).

Metro was purchased at the Keeneland September sale by Talla Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. That triumvirate campaigns the colt in partnership with Stonehaven Steading LLC and Charles Sonson.

The field in post position order: J B Strikes Again, Edwin Maldonado (12-1); All That Glory, Frankie Dettori (5-2); We’re in Trouble, Flavien Prat (4-1); Metro, Juan Hernandez (8-5); Fast Chaz, Antonio Fresu (5-2); Western Power, Jeremy Laprida (12-1).

O’NEILL EXTENDS LEAD IN TRAINER’S STANDINGS WITH 2-WIN SUNDAY
A surging Doug O’Neill won two more races Sunday to extend his lead atop the Classic Meet trainer’s standings.
O’Neill won the opener with favorite Special Flower ($5.40) and the featured Irish O’Brien Stakes with favorite Stay and Scam ($4.40). O’Neill now has 27 wins at the Classic Meet, which is five more than co-runner ups Phil D’Amato and Mark Glatt.
O’Neill is winning at a 21 percent clip at the Classic Meet with a record of 129: 27-22-16. Stay and Scam provided his second stakes win of the Classic Meet and pushed O’Neill’s earnings to $1,443,750 at the stand.
O’Neill, a finalist this year for induction into the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., has won multiple trainer’s titles at Santa Anita. His most recent came at the 2021 Autumn Meet.
O’Neill enters this week’s action with 2,875 career wins and more than $161.8 million in earnings. He has won two Kentucky Derbies (Nyquist, 2016; I’ll Have Another, 2012) and five Breeders’ Cup races.
O’Neill has a combined seven horses entered Friday and Saturday at Santa Anita.

SATURDAY’S $1 COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 BEGINS AT 2 P.M. PT
The $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 Saturday kicks off at 2 p.m. PT with the third race from Santa Anita, a six-furlong turf sprint for non-winners of two with a $25,000 claiming tag.
The Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 combines races from Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park and features a player-friendly 15 percent takeout rate.
Santa Anita’s third race Saturday has a field of seven entered led by 5-2 morning line favorite I’m a Lucky Man for trainer Mark Glatt. Also part of the sequence are the fifth and eighth races from Santa Anita.
The fifth race is a first level statebred allowance for older horses on the hillside turf course. A field of eight is entered topped by 9-5 program favorite Leyas Candy, also for Glatt.
The eighth race, which closes out the sequence at approximately 4:30 p.m., is an allowance/optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. A field of nine is entered led by 5-2 morning line favorite Yellow Brick for trainer Richard Mandella.
Gulfstream joins the action with its ninth and 11th races. The ninth is an allowance/optional claimer at 7 ½ furlongs on turf. A field of eight is entered led by 9-5 morning line favorite for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. The 11th is a second-level allowance/optional claimer for older fillies and mares at one mile on turf. It has an overflow field of 14 entered, only 12 will go, led by lukewarm 4-1 favorite Loon Cry for trainer Christophe Clement.
This past Sunday, the $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 returned $1,629 for 94 winning tickets. The Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 is offered every Saturday and Sunday through the remainder of the Classic Meet April 7.

FINISH LINES: Jockeys Flavien Prat and Antonio Fresu each won two races Sunday to gain ground on Juan Hernandez, the Classic Meet’s leading rider. Prat has 41 wins at the stand to rank second with Fresu next at 38 wins. Hernandez has 46 wins to lead the standings…A nine-race card is set for Friday with 1 p.m. first post…Sunday’s feature is the $100,000 Sensational Star for older California-breds on the hillside turf course…Every Friday at the Classic Meet, on-track fans receive free parking and admission plus $3 beers and $5 margaritas…A memorial service for late turf writer Art Wilson will be held next Wednesday at Oakdale Memorial Park in Glendora at 11 a.m. A reception will follow at Glendora Continental Restaurant at 316 W. Route 66.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS
(Current Through Sunday, March 17, 2024 Inclusive)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won
Juan Hernandez 200 46 43 30 23% 60% $3,145,688
Flavien Prat 152 41 35 16 27% 61% $3,103,294
Antonio Fresu 207 38 35 28 18% 49% $2,385,712
Lanfranco Dettori 150 28 23 28 19% 53% $1,966,400
Hector Berrios 98 20 23 16 20% 60% $1,367,340
Umberto Rispoli 122 20 15 27 16% 51% $1,422,122
Edwin Maldonado 83 15 9 14 18% 46% $878,506
Tiago Pereira 106 14 11 16 13% 39% $883,822
Kyle Frey 133 13 13 21 10% 35% $723,222
Kazushi Kimura 132 12 18 19 9% 37% $894,884

Trainer Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won
Doug O’Neill 129 27 22 16 21% 50% $1,443,750
Philip D’Amato 123 22 21 11 18% 44% $1,760,280
Mark Glatt 84 22 17 11 26% 60% $1,151,304
Bob Baffert 72 21 20 7 29% 67% $2,264,460
Steve Knapp 99 19 13 16 19% 48% $720,180
John Sadler 83 16 16 15 19% 57% $1,184,166
Richard Mandella 44 14 5 4 32% 52% $986,540
Peter Eurton 72 12 15 9 17% 50% $770,220
Michael McCarthy 72 11 9 14 15% 47% $965,020
Jeff Mullins 66 11 8 14 17% 50% $587,960

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