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Santa Anita Stable Notes Monday, March 4, 2024
3/4/2024
STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN
__MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2024 __
• BAFFERT, DETTORI SHINE ON 87TH BIG CAP DAY • GI BEHOLDER MILE, GIII SANTA YSABEL ON TAP THIS WEEKEND • HERNANDEZ WINS 3, LEADS PRAT IN JOCKEY’S RACE • RACING RETURNS FRIDAY WITH 8-RACE CARD, FIRST POST 12:30 P.M.
BAFFERT, DETTORI SHINE ON 87TH BIG CAP DAY Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and international superstar jockey Frankie Dettori added yet another chapter to their famed careers Sunday at Santa Anita.
Baffert and Dettori combined forces to win both the 87th GI Santa Anita Handicap with Newgate and GII San Felipe Stakes with the 3-year-old colt Imagination. Baffert also scored in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile with Du Jour, which was Baffert’s first Grade I turf win since the 2009 Del Mar Oaks with Internallyflawless.
“I’m just glad they all showed up. They all ran hard,” Baffert said Monday
Dettori’s first-ever win in the historic Big Cap and first victory in the San Felipe both came by a head. In the 1 ¼-mile Big Cap, Dettori rallied Newgate just in time to edge Subsanador. In the San Felipe, Dettori had to call on all his skills to prevail.
Imagination was knocked sideways during a scramble on the first turn, then the Into Mischief colt “took off” down the backstretch, as Baffert described it. The 53-year-old Dettori eventually got Imagination to come to hand on the second turn. They then outdueled stablemate Wine Me Up to the wire to win by a head.
“Frankie is incredible,” Baffert said. “What he’s done in Europe, then to come here and adapt to dirt racing like he has. He basically tells you, ‘If you have them ready, don’t worry about it.’ I like that. That’s his confidence level.”
Newgate earned his first Grade I win in the Big Cap. For Baffert, 71, it was his sixth Big Cap victory and first since 2014 with Game on Dude.
“It doesn’t seem that long ago,” Baffert said. “Time flies.” Newgate, a 4-year-old Into Mischief colt, upped his record to 3-4-0 in nine starts with $535,775 in earnings for an extensive ownership group that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables. His only other graded stakes win came under Dettori in last year’s GIII Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita.
“Newgate has been getting better and better,” Baffert said. “He’s a big horse with lots of flesh. I think he’ll continue to improve with racing. He’s not there yet, but he’s getting close.”
Imagination, who has a similar ownership group as Newgate, was making his stakes debut in the San Felipe. Purchased for $1.05 million as a yearling, he graduated in his third start when going a mile here Jan. 1. He then came back in an entry-level allowance also at a mile and lost by a neck to highly regarded
“We always thought he was a really quality horse,” Baffert said of Imagination, who is out of the Empire Maker mare Magical Feeling. “He’s bred to get better as he gets older. The races have helped him. I think he might not need blinkers. I didn’t like the way he didn’t settle down the backside.”
Du Jour became racing’s newest millionaire with his first Grade I win under Flavien Prat. It was his first start since a 10th-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Mile here Nov. 4.
“He’s a nice horse, but a tough horse. He’s not friendly,” Baffert said. “He went sour last year and I turned him out. I took my time with him. He’s just starting to show some maturity.”
Du Jour is a 6-year-old gelding by Temple City owned in partnership by Baffert’s wife, Jill, and Debbie Lanni. In last year’s Kilroe Mile, Du Jour was beaten a neck by Gold Phoenix. His record stands at 6-3-2 in 17 starts with $1,118,220 in earnings.
GI BEHOLDER MILE, GIII SANTA YSABEL ON TAP THIS WEEKEND Santa Anita on Saturday hosts the GI Beholder Mile, GIII San Simeon Stakes on the hillside turf course and GIII Santa Ysabel Stakes, which is the final major prep for the GII Santa Anita Oaks April 6.
The GI Beholder Mile will feature the return of Grade I winner Adare Manor, trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Monday. The 5-year-old Uncle Mo mare has been off since finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here Nov. 4.
Other locals nominated to the Beholder Mile are Desert Dawn for trainer Phil D’Amato and Coffee in Bed for Richard Mandella, the one-two finishers in the GIII La Canada here Jan. 20. Trainer Michael McCarthy is expected to run Grade I winner Queen Goddess and possibly highly regarded allowance winner Sweet Azteca.
Eastern-based trainer is also expected to have at least one starter in the Beholder Mile. He nominated multiple graded stakes winner Interstatedaydream and Green Up, a two-time stakes winner for Team Valor.
The 1 1/16-mile Santa Ysabel is expected to feature a rematch of the top-three finishers from the GIII Las Virgenes here Feb. 10. Baffert confirmed Las Virgenes winner Kinza would return in the Santa Ysabel. Runner-up Kopion is also expected to run for Richard Mandella as is third-place finisher She’s a Tempest for trainer Steve Knapp.
In addition to Saturday’s trio of stakes, Sunday’s card will feature the listed China Doll Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf.
FINISH LINES: Juan Hernandez won three races Sunday to take a narrow two-win lead over Flavien Prat in the race for the Classic Meet jockey’s title. Hernandez now has 37 wins at the stand after scoring in the first race with Asada Fries ($7) for trainer Craig Lewis, the second with Princip ($8.60) for Mark Glatt and the ninth with Getthemoney ($20.40) for Brian Koriner . Prat won Sunday’s GI Kilroe Mile on Du Jour ($8.40) for Bob Baffert to give him 35 wins at the meet…Richard Mandella leads all trainers with eight stakes wins at the stand following Ruby Nell’s ($3.60) victory Sunday in the GII Buena Vista…Prominent longtime Thoroughbred owner Alan Magerman passed away this past Saturday at age 88 in Carlsbad, CA. Magerman employed racing Hall of Fame trainer Buster Millerick in the 1960s and 70s and was the co-owner, along with Ted Aroney, of California-bred stalwart King Glorious, a son of Naevus, who won eight out of his nine starts while banking $1.1 million. Conditioned by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, King Glorious won a pair of Grade I stakes, taking the Hollywood Futurity in 1988 and the 1989 Haskell Invitational in 1989. A Philadelphia native, memorial Services for Alan Magerman are set for Tuesday in Trevos, PA…Live racing returns to Santa Anita Friday with an eight-race card starting at 12:30 p.m.