SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019

By Ed Golden —-

• SHOEMAKER REMEMBERED ON MEMORIAL DAY
• GIFT BOX REUNITES WITH ROSARIO IN GOLD CUP
• VASILIKA COULD WORK TUESDAY FOR GAMELY
• $605,038 AT END OF TODAY’S PICK 6 ‘RAINBOW’
• SCOTT STEVENS GETS WOOLF AWARD TODAY

SHOEMAKER A RACE TO REMEMBER FOR McANALLY

On Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, America honors its patriotic veterans with a day of respectful remembrance.

Santa Anita, in a lesser sense, shares in that grateful reflection with the running of the Shoemaker Mile, one of three Grade I events that day offering a total of $1.5 million in purses.

The Shoemaker is named for the late, great racing veteran, Bill Shoemaker, who was and remains the gold standard among jockeys, 16 years after his death on Oct. 12, 2003.

Fittingly, Ron McAnally will have a horse in that race, a six-year-old Argentine-bred named Le Ken that has outrun his odds in each of his six United States starts. It would be fitting, too, if McAnally, 86 and a member of the Hall of Fame since 1990, would win the Shoemaker, captured five times by the rider when the race was run as the Premier Handicap.

After all, McAnally and Shoemaker started out together. They were here in 1948, when Santa Anita was in its infancy.

“Shoe was one of the greatest I’ve seen,” McAnally said. “We grew up together. He was mucking stalls when I was mucking stalls. He was a classy guy and a helluva rider.”

As for Le Ken, he was fourth in his U.S. debut at 80-1 in the Grade II City of Hope Mile; fourth at 19-1 in the restricted Lure Stakes; ninth after an eventful trip at 54-1 in the Grade II Seabiscuit; second in an overnight race at 21-1; third in the Grade III Thunder Road at 22-1; and fourth in the Grade III San Francisco Mile at 16-1.

“He’s been right there in most of his races,” McAnally said. “He’s been training really well. I’m real happy with the way he looks and how he’s been doing. Hopefully, if he’s in a photo this time, it will be for the win.”

Should he do so, it would add to McAnally’s career stakes victories at Santa Anita, currently at 113, good for fourth behind Charlie Whittingham, Bob Baffert and Bobby Frankel, and like McAnally, fellow Hall of Fame members all.

Likely for the Shoemaker, a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Race providing the winner with a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov 2: Blitzkrieg, Bowies Hero, Catapult, Delta Prince, Desert Stone, Le Ken, Ohio, River Boyne, Sharp Samurai and Synchrony.

GIFT BOX MAKES PRESENCE FELT IN SMART GOLD CUP DRILL

Santa Anita Handicap winner Gift Box is on course for the Grade I Gold Cup at Santa Anita on Memorial Day after working six furlongs Saturday in 1:13.60.

“It was an excellent work on this track,” said John Sadler, who won two races yesterday to move into third place in the standings, six wins behind leader Doug O’Neill. “He galloped out a mile in 1:41. (Joel) Rosario is coming in to ride him and others for us that day.

“Catapult (Shoemaker Mile) went a minute and change yesterday (1:02). He went very well also. Both the Gold Cup and Shoemaker are good, salty races.”

Probable for the Gold Cup: Core Beliefs, Florent Geroux; Fight On, no rider; Gift Box, Joel Rosario; Lone Sailor, Flavien Prat; Mongolian Groom, no rider; and Vino Rosso, John Velazquez.

VASILIKA COULD BREEZE TUESDAY FOR GAMELY STAKES

With rain currently in an erratic pattern, Jerry Hollendorfer scrapped plans to breeze Vasilika tomorrow for next Monday’s Grade I Gamely Stakes, and likely will work her Tuesday.

“We’ll be conservative and probably breeze her Tuesday,” the Hall of Fame trainer said of the five-year-old Skipshot mare, claimed for $40,000 on Feb. 11 last year and winner of 11 races since, eight of them stakes including the Rodeo Drive and the Matriarch, each a Grade I.

“You get horses that will develop like that,” Hollendorfer said in addressing her dramatic success since the claim. “Not a lot, but some.”

SINGLE TICKET RAINBOW PICK SIX JACKPOT CARRYOVER OF $605,038

For the 18th consecutive racing day, Santa Anita’s popular 20 cent Single Ticket Rainbow Pick Six Jackpot went unsolved, resulting in a carryover of $605,038 into Sunday at The Great Race Place.

Saturday’s Rainbow Six attracted $234,874 in “new” money, contributing to a total pool of $786,136. Although there was no single ticket winner, there were 79 tickets with six winners, each worth $1,583.80.

Approximate post time for today’s fourth race, beginning the Rainbow Six, is 2:31 p.m.

SCOTT STEVENS TO RECEIVE WOOLF AWARD FOLLOWING SIXTH RACE

In what will surely be an intensely emotional moment, veteran jockey Scott Stevens will be presented with the 2019 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in a Winner’s Circle ceremony following today’s sixth race at Santa Anita.

A winner of more than 4,800 races in a career that has spanned 43 years, Stevens will be joined by family, friends and colleagues, including the 1996 Woolf Award winner, retired Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, as the pair thus become the first brotherly tandem to win the prestigious award in its 70-year history.

The winner via a vote of jockeys nationwide, Stevens placed first among a list of five finalists that included Joe Bravo, Kerwin Clark, John Davila, Jr. and Julien Leparoux.

“I know I was there when Gary won, but honestly, it’s been so long ago, I don’t remember,” said Stevens. “This award is so special and I was honored just to be nominated. When you think about all the great riders and the great people that have won it and to be selected by a vote of your peers . . . It’s really more than I can describe.”

Born Oct. 6, 1960 in Caldwell, Idaho, Stevens is the son of a former trainer, Ron, and rodeo queen, Barbara. Steeped in the ways of the horse-world from infancy, Stevens, who has more than 32,400 career mounts, broke his maiden on May 30, 1976 at Les Bois Park in Boise, at the age of 15.

A member of both the Idaho and Canterbury Park (MN) Halls of Fame, Stevens has been a helpful, guiding influence to scores of young jockeys for decades.

A nine-time leading rider at Turf Paradise, Stevens, who resides in Phoenix with his longtime partner Pam Isles, has two grown children, a daughter Jessica and a son, Jake, as well as five grandchildren, four of whom will join him today.

Named for the legendary Hall of Fame jockey George Woolf, who died at age 35 following a spill on Santa Anita’s Club House turn on Jan. 3, 1946, the Woolf Award can only be won once, and it is intended to recognize riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.

LATEST CONTENT FROM XBTV:

Gift Box works 6 furlongs. (Sadler) 5-18-19

Paradise Woods works 5 furlongs. (Shirriffs) 5-18-19

Mark Casse talks War of Will following his Preakness Stakes victory.

XBTV Sunday: What to watch for at Santa Anita Park on May 19th, 2019.

Weekend Watch: Highlighting weekend action at Santa Anita Park Starting May 18th, 2019

Cistron works 6 furlongs. (Sadler) 5-17-19

Pricing works 5 furlongs. (Proctor) 5-17-19
Juggles works 4 furlongs. (O’ Neill) 5-17-19

Ashleyluvssugar works 5 furlongs. (Eurton) 5-17-19

Friday’s at Shady works 4 furlongs. (Bonde) 5-17-19

FINISH LINES: Mario Gutierrez is locked in at Golden Gate today riding 2-1 morning line favorite Kingly for Bob Baffert in the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes . . . A first name trifecta worth $84.90 resulted in Saturday’s seventh race when Don’t Blame Judy, Eddie Surprise and Peter’s Kitten ran one-two-three . . . Santa Anita is dark for live racing Monday through Thursday. Live action resumes 1 p.m. Friday, May 24 and continues through May 27. Simulcast racing is offered Wednesday and Thursday with free General Admission and free parking. Admission gates open at 10 a.m.

SANTA ANITA STATISTICS
(Current from April 12 through Saturday, May 18)
Jockey Mts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% ITM% Money Won

Flavien Prat 56 13 14 10 23% 66% $702,086
Rafael Bejarano 67 12 11 12 18% 52% $636,079
Joseph Talamo 66 12 9 9 18% 45% $645,007
Tiago Pereira 74 12 6 12 16% 41% $542,798
Ruben Fuentes 72 11 15 9 15% 49% $469,799
Kent Desormeaux 32 11 2 4 34% 53% $415,280
Edwin Maldonado 41 10 6 7 24% 56% $364,757
Victor Espinoza 31 10 2 2 32% 45% $547,585

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

Doug O’Neill 49 15 4 12 31% 63% $657,902
Richard Baltas 37 11 8 3 30% 59% $606,799
John Sadler 32 9 4 7 28% 63% $528,375
Mark Glatt 42 7 8 3 17% 43% $335,118
Philip D’Amato 41 7 8 1 17% 39% $411,465

ABOUT SANTA ANITA PARK
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.

ABOUT THE STRONACH GROUP
The Stronach Group (TSG) is a world-class entertainment and real estate development company with Thoroughbred horse racing at the core. The company’s mission is executed through the distinct but interconnected pillars of Racing and Gaming, Entertainment, Technology and Real Estate Development. TSG is dedicated to delivering the best in class Thoroughbred horse racing content and operations. The company holds some of the greatest brands in the industry including, Southern California’s Santa Anita Park, “The Great Race Place”; South Florida’s Gulfstream Park, home to the $16 million Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series and retail destination, The Village at Gulfstream Park; Pimlico Race Course, home of the legendary Preakness Stakes, Laurel Park and Rosecroft Raceway in Maryland; Oregon’s Portland Meadows; and the San Francisco Bay Area’s, Golden Gate Fields. TSG is a leader in digital and mobile wagering technology through its subsidiaries AmTote and Xpressbet and is a major distributor of horse racing content to a global audience through Monarch Content Management. The award winning Adena Springs is the breeding and training facility of The Stronach Group with stables in Kentucky, Florida and Ontario.