Santa Anita: Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, Hollywood Gold Cup top Full Card Selections

By Bob Hill
Tracksideview Feature Writer —-

Full Card Picks for Santa Anita

Saturday, June 6, 2020

Field size is still limited in many races in California due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, but even those small fields produce some interesting handicapping challenges. Such is the case at Santa Anita this Saturday on a card with three graded stakes, two open listed stakes, and two listed stakes for Cal-bred horses.

Race 5 – Santa Anita Oaks G2 – 1-1/16 miles for F-M 3 YO 1-3-2-5

A field of only four go to post in this Kentucky Oaks prep race. Midwest invader Swiss Skydiver (1) towers over this group in terms of back class and black type wins. She’s listed at 6-5 in the ML, and I’d guess you’ll be lucky to get 3-5 at post time. Her two-race win streak is on the line. Speech (3) finished third in the G3 Santa Ysabel on this track back in March, and she ran a very competitive second to top West Coast distaffer Gamine last month at Oaklawn. If she can match that effort here she is a definite win contender. Merneith (2) is a last-out maiden winner for Bob Baffert, and Regal Beauty (5) is too.

Race 8 – Santa Anita Derby G1 – 1-1/8 miles for 3YO 6-7-2-4

This prestigious Kentucky Derby prep race is a replay of the G2 San Felipe contested here in early March. That contest was won by Authentic (7) by a margin of 2-1/4 lengths over Honor A.P. (6). John Shirreffs has been patiently waiting to send Honor A.P. to the gate for added distance so here is the chance to find out if the extra half-furlong makes a difference in the outcome. Authentic is a perfect 3 for 3, and if he was not a barn-mate of two other Baffert super star three-year-olds (one has been retired due to injury) he would most likely be a buzz horse on the Derby Trail.

In the San Felipe, Authentic led from gate-to-wire, but he may get more pace pressure in this contest from the likes of Shooters Shoot (3) and Rushie (2). The latter of that pair appears to be a late developing handicap quality runner for Michael McCarthy. Azul Coast (5) is another Baffert trainee, but many regard him as second tier quality. Anneau d’Or (4) ran his best lifetime race on this track in the BC Juvenile last November, but he has failed to progress at all this spring in two Midwest races. I like both Authentic and Honor A.P as top ten Derby contenders, and I’ll include both on all my tickets. For the purposes of not dodging my job here, I’m picking Honor A.P. on top.

Race 10 — Hollywood Gold Cup – 1-1/4 miles for 3YO and up 2-4-5-3

Three of the six in this field have ML odds listed at 2-1 or lower. The ML favorite, Higher Power (3) Is one I’m ready to play against. After a fifth-place finish in this race a year ago he strung together five top efforts before turning in a clunker in his only race of 2020. He’s a contender at his best, but I’m not convinced he’s ready to show us that level of effort. The most improbable thing about Improbable (5) is that he’ll get from the barn to the starting gate without some sort of acting out episode. He’s another that could win with his best, but that’s hard to count on, too. That leaves my top choice Midcourt (2) who has been consistent and quite good for Peter Eurton since moving to his barn in February, 2019. He just missed at this distance in his last try.

Brown Storm (4) is my value play in this race. I think he could finish as high as second if the others let him set soft fractions. Tenfold (6) or Parsimony (1) could gain a small piece if any of the others falter.

Race 1: 2-1-5-3

Race 2: 6-3-4-5

Race 3: 1-2-4-6

Race 4: 6-3-2-4

Race 5: 1-3-2-5

Race 6: 1-2-6-4

Race 7: 8-3-7-6

Race 8: 6-7-2-4

Race 9: 7-3-6-2

Race 10: 2-4-5-3

Race 11: 8-9-6-3