SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES

By Ed Golden —-

• SANTA YSABEL DISTANCE SHOULD BE OK FOR SPRING LILY
• ONE FAST BROAD MAKES QUICK RETURN IN SANTA YSABEL
• NEW SUNDAY FIRST POST TIME OF 11:30 STARTS MARCH 11
• JOSE FERRER IS VOTED WINNER OF GEORGE WOOLF AWARD

SPRING LILY SHOWS PROMISE IN MAIDEN VICTORY

In her first start for John Shirreffs, Spring Lily demolished a field of maidens by five open lengths on Feb. 4 at odds of nearly 19-1. The daughter of Union Rags owned by Martin and Pam Wygod had previously been trained by Cliff Sise Jr. when finishing a distant seventh in her only other race, last Nov. 12 at Del Mar.

Saturday the chestnut filly steps well up in grade when she tackles undefeated Dream Tree and a filly of predominate potential, Midnight Bisou, in the Grade III Santa Ysabel Stakes for three-year-old fillies at a mile and a sixteenth.

“She’s doing well,” Shirreffs said of Spring Lily, who is coming off two 6 ½ furlong sprints, the last on Feb. 4 at Santa Anita under Evin Roman, who rides back Saturday.

Asked whether going two turns for the first time might be problematic, Shirreffs said, “Actually, I was kind of afraid this might be too short for her.”

The Santa Ysabel is a steppingstone to the Grade I, $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks at a mile and a sixteenth on April 7.

The Santa Ysabel, race six on a 10-race program that starts at 12:30 p.m.: One Fast Broad, Geovanni Franco, 8-1; Spring Lily, Evin Roman, 4-1; Midnight Bisou, Mike Smith, 7-5; Thirteen Squared, Tyler Baze, 12-1; Sweetsongofthenile, Flavien Prat, 20-1; and Dream Tree, Drayden Van Dyke, 6-5.

ONE FAST BROAD IN QUICK TURNAROUND FOR SANTA YSABEL

One Fast Broad is entered in Saturday’s Santa Ysabel Stakes on a quick turnaround, just 12 days after running second in the California Cup Oaks at a mile on grass Feb. 19.

The California-bred daughter of Decarchy is unbeaten in three races on dirt, however, including two wins against Cal-breds, in the Golden State Juvenile Fillies last Nov. 17 and the Soviet Problem last Dec. 3.

“It’s a six-horse field, we know she’s undefeated on dirt so we’ll give it a shot and guess what? The rest of the year we’ve got nothing but Cal-bred races for her,” said owner/trainer Mick Ruis, who sent out El Asesino to win last Sunday’s second race under Stewart Elliott.

Off as the 3-5 favorite, One Fast Broad’s second in the California Cup Oaks was against Cal-breds, but even though she closed to finish second, Ruis is optimistic she can do better in the Santa Ysabel.

“I didn’t like the way the race turned out,” Ruis said of the Oaks. “That’s not her style, not what we wanted, but somehow, that’s what we got.”

NEW ‘SUNDAY BRUNCH’ FIRST POST TIME OF 11:30 A.M. ON MARCH 11

Santa Anita will adopt a new “Sunday Brunch” first post time of 11:30 a.m. on all Sundays beginning with Daylight Saving Time on March 11 and running through closing day of its current Winter/Spring Meet that concludes on June 24.

Effective Thursday, March 15, first post time on all other racing days except Sundays and Triple Crown Saturdays will be 12 noon. Current post times will remain the same prior to Daylight Saving Time March 11, with weekday starts at 1 p.m. and weekend at 12:30 p.m.

Santa Anita’s present 104-day Winter/Spring Meeting, which began Dec. 26, operates on a Thursday through Sunday basis, with few exceptions.

JOSE FERRER VOTED WINNER OF WOOLF AWARD

Jockey Jose Ferrer, a mainstay on the eastern seaboard dating back to 1982, has been selected by a nationwide vote of his peers as the winner of Santa Anita’s 2018 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

One of five Woolf finalists, Ferrer outpolled fellow riders Alex Birzer, Javier
Castellano, Rodney Prescott and Joe Talamo. In becoming the 69th Woolf Award winner, Ferrer follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest riders of the modern era.

“For any Thoroughbred jockey, winning the George Woolf Award is probably the highlight of that jockey’s career,” said Jockey’s Guild National Manager Terry Meyocks. “To be acknowledged by his peers as a rider who has maintained remarkable standards both on and off the track is quite an accomplishment. Jose is richly deserving of this honor and on behalf of our membership, I wholeheartedly congratulate him and his family.”

Born March 31, 1964, Ferrer is a proponent of the power of positive thinking and views each day as a God-given opportunity to contribute to a sport that has provided him a magnificent career. With more than 4,200 wins to his credit, Ferrer is currently based at Tampa Bay Downs. Second in the rider standings this past summer at Monmouth Park, Ferrer has rebounded from serious injuries sustained in a spill at Delaware Park in September.

“It means the world to me to have the guys I’ve ridden with throughout my career vote for me,” said Ferrer from Tampa Bay Downs. “It is an unbelievable feeling. When I learned I had won, I was up all night with my wife, just to thank God for this opportunity and for my peers to consider me worthy of this award. It’s a privilege and an honor to be with all those great riders and Hall of Famers who have won the Woolf Award.

“I give so much credit to God and to my wife, Steffi. After I got married and started to get closer to God, things started to turn around for the best and more doors started opening . . . see things differently now, and I believe you just have to keep trying in life and be positive.”

Shortly after he arrived in the United States, Ferrer became the first jockey to win five races on a single card at the Meadowlands in New Jersey on Nov. 24, 1983, thus stamping himself as a force to be reckoned with in the Mid-Atlantic for decades to come.

Married, with two sons, Derek, 3, and Joseph, 2, Ferrer also has two adult daughters.
The 2018 Woolf Award Trophy, a replica of the life-sized statue of Woolf that has adorned Santa Anita’s Paddock Gardens area since 1949, will be presented to Ferrer in a Winner’s Circle ceremony on an as-yet to be determined date this spring.

The legendary Hall of Fame jockey, George Woolf, died following a spill on Santa Anita’s Club House turn on Jan. 3, 1946.

FINISH LINES: There is a Pick Six carryover today of $38,100 . . . Through 37 racing days, apprentice Evin Roman leads Flavien Prat, 32-31, in the race for leading rider, although Roman has had 39 more mounts. The Eclipse Award winner as outstanding apprentice of 2017 loses his weight allowance on March 11 and begins as a full-fledged journeyman March 12. Prat leads all riders in money won with $1,778,963. Kent Desormeaux, who turned 48 on Feb. 27, is third in the jockey standings with 28 wins from only 128 mounts, 22 percent, and is second in money won with $1,450,990 . . . With two wins Thursday, Richard Baltas tied Bob Baffert for second in wins among trainers with 18, although Baltas has run 46 more horses. Peter Miller is atop the standings with 21 wins . . . Forbidden Command, Jon White’s 9-5 morning line favorite in today’s sixth race, has been claimed six times from her last eight races, including a string of five in a row, twice from trainer Steve Miyadi. The six-year-old California-bred daughter of Forest Command now trained by Genero Vallejo has an 8-9-2 record from 33 starts.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS

(Current Through Thursday, March 1)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Evin Roman 203 32 37 24 16% 46% $1,128,109
Flavien Prat 164 31 34 20 19% 52% $1,778,963
Kent Desormeaux 128 28 16 16 22% 47% $1,450,990
Rafael Bejarano 150 24 16 31 16% 47% $1,077,871
Tyler Baze 183 23 29 21 13% 40% $1,313,989
Drayden Van Dyke 110 20 10 10 18% 36% $1,208,843
Joseph Talamo 146 19 18 20 13% 39% $903,458
Geovanni Franco 113 16 15 19 14% 44% $635,800
Tiago Pereira 118 11 15 13 9% 33% $539,173
Corey Nakatani 65 11 13 7 17% 48% $737,458

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

Peter Miller 88 21 22 11 24% 61% $1,079,309
Richard Baltas 117 18 18 14 15% 43% $949,117
Bob Baffert 71 18 11 9 25% 54% $1,162,804
Jerry Hollendorfer 92 16 10 14 17% 43% $928,896
Doug O’Neill 89 13 14 12 15% 44% $798,134
Vladimir Cerin 53 13 11 4 25% 53% $358,070

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.