Katonah wins at Santa Anita, but celebration is muted

ARCADIA — With Eclipse Award winner National Treasure retired, and runner-up vote-getter Full Serrano off for the winter, auditions are under way for the role of leading older male horse from California.

Saturday, they took place on both coasts, Katonah winning the $200,000, Grade II San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita after Mixto ran the best of the California horses in the $3 million, Grade I Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park in Florida, making it a doubly encouraging day for trainer Doug O’Neill.

O’Neill also has J B Strikes Back, winner of the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes at Santa Anita in December and expected to run next in the March 1 Santa Anita Handicap.

It had to be satisfying for Team O’Neill to see 6-year-old Katonah – who paid $13.40 – snap a five-race, 18-month losing streak and win for the first time at the graded stakes level by rallying from last in a seven-horse field with jockey Tiago Pereira to beat Express Train by two lengths with Tarantino third and favorite Imagination fourth.

“He’s just a hard-knocking horse. He shows up in his races, and he tries every time,” Shane O’Neill, Doug’s nephew, said of Katonah in the winner’s circle while the trainer himself was away.

It wasn’t all smiles, though.

Midway through the 1 1-8-mile San Pasqual, Don’t Fight the Fed fell and threw jockey Mario Gutierrez. Don’t Fight the Fed, a 5-year-old horse, had to be euthanized, and Gutierrez, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner, was taken to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena to be examined.

“Don’t Fight the Fed was immediately attended to by the official veterinarian,” Santa Anita said in a statement. “Sadly, his injury did not allow for a surgical option and he was humanely euthanized on the track.”

Shane O’Neill acknowledged what happened to Don’t Fight the Fed and wished the best to trainer Antonio Garcia and his team.

“That’s really sad,” O’Neill said before the extent of Don’t Fight the Fed’s injury was official. “I never like winning a race when that happens.”

According to data on the California Horse Racing Board website, the death was the first in a race at Santa Anita since Oct. 27, when Eddie’s Last was fatally injured. But the site indicates there have been 16 deaths since then in races, training and “other” activities at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos.

Saturday’s stakes at Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park were the first in the 4-year-olds-and-up division since the 2024 Eclipse Awards were announced last Thursday in Palm Beach, Fla., and Bob Baffert-trained National Treasure received one of three divisional honors for California-based horses.

It was the fifth time in nine years that the champion older male on dirt came from California.

National Treasure was retired to stud. Full Serrano, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner at Del Mar for trainer John Sadler, was reported in December to be off for 60 days. Also, Subsanador, the California Crown Classic winner at Santa Anita for trainer Richard Mandella, is “four months from racing” because of an ankle injury, Mandella told the Daily Racing Form’s Steve Andersen this week.

The stage is open for others in the West Coast 4-year-olds-and-up division.

Mixto’s fourth-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup with jockey Frankie Dettori behind runaway winner White Abarrio ($7.60) was better than expected. Five-year-old Mixto, who went off at 40-1, is still looking for respect at the elite level after winning the Pacific Classic at Del Mar at 22-1 odds last August.

Mixto outran accomplished horses like Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, who finished ninth on Saturday. He also ran and hid from the most heavily backed Californian in the Pegasus. That was Stronghold, the Santa Anita Derby winner, who faded badly and finished 10th in the 11-horse field at 7-1 odds after pressing the pace early.

Which horses will emerge as contenders for the $300,000, Grade I Santa Anita Handicap for 4-year-olds and up, and whether there’s another champion in racing’s heavyweight division, remain to be seen.

Two races Saturday spotlighted Kentucky Derby hopefuls.

San Saba ($4.40), one of the late starters in Baffert’s squad of prospects for the May 3 Derby, scored a hard-earned first victory on the second try in a maiden sprint at Santa Anita with jockey Edwin Maldonado subbing for injury Kazushi Kimura. Varney, a first-time starter for Baffert, finished third behind 16-1 Modus Bestia.

Baffert fared less well at the $1 million, Grade III Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, an early stepping stone to the Derby. Gaming and Juan Hernandez never got into the race after a rough first turn and the Del Mar Futurity winner finished next to last at 2-1 while Speed King ($30.60) and Rafael Bejarano led all the way.