STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2023

- SANTA ANITA CANCELS FRIDAY’S CARD DUE TO RAIN - KIRSTENBOSCH GETS ANOTHER GRADE I TEST IN BEHOLDER MILE - 8 SANTA ANITA 3-YEAR-OLDS LISTED IN KY. DERBY FUTURE WAGER - BORACIO GETS 1ST WIN OF CLASSIC MEET, PALMA BAGS TWO - COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 RETURNS SATURDAY

SANTA ANITA CANCELS FRIDAY’S CARD DUE TO RAIN Following overnight rain that’s expected to continue throughout the day, Santa Anita has canceled Friday’s eight-race card under the advisement of its track maintenance crew.

“It’s an unfortunate situation for everybody,” said Jason Egan, Santa Anita director of racing and racing secretary. “We will explore the possibility of a makeup date in the future, but I’m just going to bring the entire card back as extras for next Friday. We’ll try and run more races next weekend.”

The current weather system could drop up to a half of inch of rain by the end of Friday, according to track officials. This is the seventh race day to be canceled at the Classic Meet due to rain. Three days were lost in January and three more last month from Feb. 24-26. Yesterday’s special eight-race program was a makeup for one of the lost cards.

Egan noted Friday’s cancellation should help ensure this weekend’s racing goes as planned.

“We’re concerned if we left the track ‘open’ it would get too much water where we’d have a bad racetrack condition tomorrow,” he said. “So it’s not just necessarily about today. We have to consider the next day or two also.”

Santa Anita will be open Friday for simulcasting wagering in the track’s Grandstand Paddock Room. Admission and parking are free.

Live racing is scheduled to resume Saturday with a nine-race card that includes two stakes: the Grade I, $500,000 Beholder Mile and Grade II, $200,000 San Carlos going six furlongs on the main track. On Sunday, nine races are scheduled led by the Grade III, $100,000 Santa Ana for fillies and mares at 1 ¼ miles on turf.

KIRSTENBOSCH GETS ANOTHER GRADE I TEST IN BEHOLDER MILE Kirstenbosch has been a filly on the ascent this winter for trainer John Sadler. Following a third-place finish in the Grade I La Brea going seven furlongs on Dec. 26, she was stretched around two turns and promptly earned her first graded stakes win in the Grade III La Canada going 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 16.

On Saturday, Kirstenbosch will get a second crack at a Grade I in the $500,000 Beholder Mile.

Sadler targeted the Beholder Mile for Kirstenbosch immediately after her win in the La Canada, which came while breaking from the rail under Kazushi Kimura. In the Beholder Mile, she again drew the rail and will have Kimura in the irons. Kirstenbosch is listed as a 12-1 longshot on the morning line.

Sadler noted 4-year-old Kirstenbosch has continued to move forward since the La Canada. He’s expecting a top effort on Saturday.

“She’s had good spacing since the last race and she’s improving,” said Sadler, who for the first time this year is a finalist for induction into the Racing Hall of Fame. “Obviously this is a tougher group, it’s a Grade I, but she’s doing great.”

In the one-turn La Brea, Kirstenbosch was last after a half mile but rallied to finish four lengths adrift of winner Fun to Dream, who also returns in the Beholder Mile and is the 5-2 program favorite. Kirstenbosch was much closer to the pace when stretched out in the La Canada, securing a stalking position in third before getting up late to win by a nose.

Owned and bred by Keith Abrams, Kristenbosch is by Midnight Lute out of Llandudno, a graded stakes placed daughter of Belong to Me. Due to recent wet weather at Santa Anita she was forced her to miss one scheduled work late last month, but Sadler indicated it was not a concern. She returned to the tab on Sunday with a five-furlong work that Sadler said he clocked in 59.80 seconds. The drill was officially credited as being in 1:00.20.

“She got a good work here on Sunday and has been pretty much ready for a while. It’s not like we’re trying to play catch up or anything. I think she’s ready,” Sadler said.

The Beholder Mile goes as Saturday’s eighth race with a scheduled post time of 3:59 p.m. The field in post position order: Kirstenbosch, Kazushi Kimura (12-1); Pauline’s Peal, John Velazquez (7-2); Awake At Midnyte, Mario Gutierrez (10-1); Midnight Memories, Ramon Vazquez (4-1); A Mo Reay, Flavien Prat (5-1); Ganadora, Edwin Maldonado (15-1); Desert Dawn, Umberto Rispoli (4-1); Fun to Dream, Juan Hernandez (5-2).

EIGHT SANTA ANITA 3-YEAR-OLDS LISTED IN KENTUCKY DERBY FUTURE WAGER Santa Anita is well represented in this weekend’s Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which is pari-mutuel and offers both win and exacta betting. Of the 32 individual horses listed, eight are based at The Great Race Place.

The morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager is eastern-based Forte, last year’s champion 2-year-old male who returned to be a smashing winner of last Saturday’s Grade II Fountain of Youth in his sophomore bow for trainer Todd Pletcher. He opened at 4-1.

The second choice on the morning line among individual horses was Santa Anita-based Practical Move at 8-1. Trained by Tim Yakteen, the Practical Joke colt earned his second-straight graded stakes win in last Saturday’s Grade II San Felipe at Santa Anita. That effort earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, which is tied for the highest posted by a 3-year-old this year.

The next shortest odds were for Arabian Knight, the Grade III Southwest winner who is now also trained by Yakteen. He was 10-1 on the morning line.

Below are the remaining six Santa Anita-based horses offered with morning line odds, trainer and recent race performance:

Geaux Rocket Ride, Richard Mandella, second San Felipe (20-1); Reincarnate, Yakteen, 3rd GII Rebel, (30-1); National Treasure, Yakteen, third GIII Sham (30-1); Skinner, John Shirreffs, third San Felipe (40-1); Hejazi, Yakteen, fourth San Felipe (40-1); Arabian Lion, Yakteen, fourth GIII Robert B. Lewis (50-1).

The Kentucky Derby Future Wager closes Sunday at 3 p.m. PT.

BORACIO GETS 1ST WIN OF CLASSIC MEET, PALMA BAGS 2 ON SATURDAY Trainer Librado Barocio earned his first win of the Classic Meet Saturday when Bali Dancer ($12.80) won the third race, a $32,000 claimer for non-winner of two going one mile on turf. Additionally on Saturday, longtime Southern California trainer Hector Palma had his first two-win day since Dec. 4, 2020 at Los Alamitos.

Barocio, 58, has operated a small stable off and on since the late 1990s. He previously worked for the late Julio Canani.

A 1987 graduate of the UCLA film school, Barocio has served as a trainer while not making movies through his Culver City-based New Latin Cinema Productions. His best season came last year when he saddled 12 winners from 82 starters, both career highs for a calendar year.

Palma won Saturday’s fifth race with Midnight Vow ($11.40), who he owns and bred in partnership with George Yager’s BG Stable and the eighth race with Storm d’Oro ($6.40), whom he also owns in partnership with breeder BG Thoroughbred Farm to give him three victories in 30 starts at the Classic Meet. Palma, 86, has been training Thoroughbreds for more than six decades.

FINISH LINES: Phil D’Amato now tops the trainer’s standings following Midnight Jostar’s win in Thursday’s seventh race. He has 22 wins at the Classic Meet, one more than Bob Baffert…The player-friendly Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 returns Saturday with two races from Santa Anita and three from Gulfstream Park. The sequence begins with the ninth race from Gulfstream at 1:36 p.m…Entering Saturday, favorites have won at 33.71 percent clip at the Classic Meet.