Horse racing notes: Santa Anita race marks return of Seal Team
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 13
Umberto Rispoli / 11
Antonio Fresu / 8
Tyler Baze / 7
Kazushi Kimura / 6
Hector Berrios / 6
Trainers / Wins
George Papaprodromou / 11
Phil D’Amato / 10
Bob Baffert / 9
Doug O’Neill / 6
Mark Glatt / 5
WEEKEND STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $80,000 Lure Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
Sunday
• $85,000 Anoakia Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 6 furlongs
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $25,000 Azure Three Stakes, quarter horses, 3 and up, 220 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Seal Team, who appeared headed for Grade I races after he won the Grade II Twilight Derby for 3-year-olds on the 2023 Breeders’ Cup undercard, competes for the first time since then in the Lure Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. Umberto Rispoli will be back aboard the son of War Front as the colt seeks his fourth victory in six starts. Opponents include Richard Mandella stablemate Sumter (Mike Smith riding), Exaulted (Juan Hernandez) and Man O Rose (Edwin Maldonado).
• Trainer Phil D’Amato recorded the 1,000th victory of his career when Wishes to Riches and jockey Kyle Frey led from gate to wire in a maiden race at Santa Anita on Sunday. D’Amato, 48, is one of 13 active trainers in California with 1,000 or more wins, led by Jerry Hollendorfer with 7,773.
• Trainer George Papaprodromou is on a hot streak at Santa Anita, winning with 38% of his starters at the fall meet. Among Papaprodromou’s 11 winners are horses paying $51.20 (Cabo Spirit in the John Henry Turf Championship), $14 (Why Behave), $55.60 (Hacking It Up), $15.60 (Sneaker), $45.60 (Sapadilla) and $28.80 (Toulouse Detrac).
• Santa Anita announcer Frank Mirahmadi finally got to call a victory by Mirahmadi, the horse named after him. Mirahmadi the 3-year-old colt won for the first time on the ninth try, doing it emphatically by 10 lengths under Hernandez at Santa Anita on Saturday. Mirahmadi the man borrowed a pet phrase from the late New Jersey announcer Larry Lederman to declare his namesake “a maiden no more!”
• Jeriko (Jose Nicasio riding) asserted superiority among California’s older quarter horses by winning the Grade I Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship on Saturday. The 4-year-old gelding won the 440-yard race by 1¾ lengths over Empressum (Rodrigo Vallejo), the one-time world champion who was declared winner of the Go Man Go Handicap last time out via Jeriko’s disqualification for interference. Both are trained by Heath Taylor.
• Taylor’s barn continues to be plagued by fatal cases of equine infectious anemia. Five horses at Los Alamitos were euthanized Wednesday after testing positive for EIA, bringing the total this month to 12. Six others were in quarantine, the California Horse Racing Board said Wednesday. Epidemiological tracing is ongoing and the California Department of Food and Agriculture is actively monitoring the situation, the CHRB said.
— Kevin Modesti