Horse racing notes: Big ‘Cap winner takes on the world
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Thursday)
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 50
Flavien Prat / 42
Antonio Fresu / 40
Frankie Dettori / 28
Hector Berrios / 22
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 28
Mark Glatt / 25
Bob Baffert / 23
Phil D’Amato / 22
Steve Knapp / 20
UPCOMING STAKES AT SANTA ANITA
Thursday, April 4
• $100,000, Grade III Wilshire Stakes, fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
• $100,000 American Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Newgate (Frankie Dettori riding) tries to top his win in the March 3 Santa Anita Handicap when he runs in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday. The 12-horse field is headed by Señor Buscador (Junior Alvarado), the Saudi Cup winner, and Ushba Tesoro (Yuga Kawada), the Saudi runner-up and 2023 Dubai winner. Post time is 9:35 a.m. PT.
• A memorial for Art Wilson on Wednesday in Glendora featured stories of friendship, pranks and racetrack adventures, and ended appropriately with Santa Anita bugler Jay Cohen playing “Amazing Grace” followed by “Call to the Post.” Wilson, racing writer for this and other Southern California Newspapers, died at 71 on Feb. 18.
• The second-to-last Saturday of major Triple Crown preps has more than a half-dozen high-ranked 3-year-olds in action: The 10-horse Arkansas Derby matches San Vicente winner Muth (Juan Hernandez) against Rebel winner Timberlake (Flavien Prat riding), plus Mystik Dan (Brian Hernandez) aiming to validate his muddy Southwest romp. The 11-horse Florida Derby has Fierceness (John Velazquez), the trouble-prone Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, and Hades (Paco Lopez), the undefeated Holy Bull winner. The 13-horse UAE Derby is the final prep for the May 4 Kentucky Derby for Japan’s Forever Young.
• Prat, second in the Santa Anita jockey standings, is making his annual spring move to Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky., starting April 5.
• Umberto Rispoli rode the 2,000th winner of his international career Saturday at Turfway Park, in Florence, Ky., before adding his 2,001st by taking the Jeff Ruby Steaks with Endlessly on the same card.
• Endlessly earned enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, but Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy said the colt will run in the American Turf Stakes on the Derby undercard and aim for a future on grass.
• Asscher and jockey Christian Ramos won the $404,000 Los Alamitos Oaks for 3-year-old quarter-horse fillies Saturday, paying $4.20.
• Policies at two out-of-state tracks will return more money to bettors: Emerald Downs, south of Seattle, will eliminate “breakage” on all payoffs instead of rounding down to the nearest dime or nickel at its meet opening May 4; Kentucky scrapped breakage in 2022, which is why, for example, Endlessly’s win price Saturday was $4.88 instead of $4.80. And Hawthorne, near Chicago, has takeout of only 8% on win, place and show bets at its new meet; that’s the lowest in North America.
• A 14-day suspension for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, for a painkiller overage, was upheld by New York gaming commissioners, but the dates weren’t set.
— Kevin Modesti