Dortmund might return in Awesome Again Stakes

CYPRESS, Calif. – Dortmund, the Grade 1 winner who was retired in April but put back in training this summer, might make a comeback in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 30.

Trainer Art Sherman said Thursday that he is tentatively planning to run Dortmund in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt. He emphasized that a decision will be made after the 5-year-old has a workout at Los Alamitos next week.

Dortmund worked seven furlongs in 1:26.40 at Los Alamitos on Thursday.

“I’ll work him another seven-eighths next week and let him gallop out a mile,” Sherman said. “That will help me make the decision.”

The Awesome Again Stakes could be the first start for Dortmund since a fourth-place finish in the Santana Mile at Santa Anita on April 1. On Thursday, Sherman expressed concern that the Awesome Again’s distance could be a test for a horse unraced since the spring.

“I wish it was a little shorter,” Sherman said. “It’s a lot to ask going a mile and an eighth after a long layoff.”

Owned by Kaleem Shah, Dortmund resumed training in early July.

“I haven’t missed a week with him,” Sherman said. “He’s had plenty of good works.”

Dortmund was briefly retired in the spring after two losses. The winner of the 2015 Santa Anita Derby, Dortmund joined Sherman’s stable last winter after Shah and previous trainer Bob Baffert parted ways.

Dortmund has won 8 of 16 starts and earned $1,987,505. The Santa Anita Derby is his most prestigious win. Dortmund was third to American Pharoah in the 2015 Kentucky Derby. As a 4-year-old in 2016, he was winless in four starts, including a second to the Sherman-trained California Chrome in the Awesome Again Stakes last October.

Terra’s Angel eyes Chandelier

Terra’s Angel, the upset winner of the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 4, is likely to switch surfaces and run in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes on dirt for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita on Sept. 30, trainer Dallas Keen said Friday.

Keen said the Chandelier Stakes at 1 1/16 miles has appeal because the race is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program for the BC Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 4, providing a fees-paid berth to the winner.

Terra’s Angel won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf at 19-1. After the race, Keen said the $100,000 Surfer Girl Stakes on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 9 was a goal. A final decision on a race will be made later this month after Terra’s Angel has worked on the Santa Anita main track under jockey Sasha Risenhoover.

“Right now, we’re looking at the Chandelier,” Keen said. “I’ll let Sasha make that call as far as [whether] she handles the dirt.”

Owned by Johnny Evans and Terry Eoff, Terra’s Angel has won 2 of 3 starts and earned $96,420. She was third at 56-1 in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on dirt Aug. 5 in her California debut.

Keen said Terra’s Angel has thrived through early September.

“She’s never missed a bite of feed,” he said. “She’s an amazing little filly. I think she’ll take her track with her.”

Bronchitis can’t stop Pedroza

Jockey Martin Pedroza was walking toward the jockeys’ room after his 100th career win at Los Alamitos on Thursday when he spotted a trainer friend along the paddock rail.

“I think I’m more tired than the horse,” Pedroza said.

The 52-year-old rider had a good excuse for being tired. Pedroza said he has been battling bronchitis while continuing to ride.

“I feel good even though I’m sick,” he said.

His sense of humor was intact, too.

“I had to ask the outrider to pull me up,” Pedroza said.

Pedroza’s win on El Super ($13) in a starter allowance at a mile made him the first jockey to win 100 races at county fair or daytime Thoroughbred meetings at Los Alamitos. The statistics do not include results from the mixed programs run at night at Los Alamitos on a year-round basis.

Pedroza has a history at Los Alamitos dating to a riding title at the 1983 Orange County Fair meeting. The Orange County Fair meetings, which ended in 1991, were run at night in late summer following Del Mar’s daytime programs.

Pedroza was part of a small group of jockeys who rode both programs several days a week.

“We came in the limo from Del Mar,” Pedroza recalled Thursday.

Pedroza was a legend at the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Fairplex Park in Pomona, winning 730 races and 15 riding titles. For Pedroza, that meeting was the highlight of his year.

The Fairplex Park meetings were discontinued after 2013. Since then, the Los Angeles County Fair racing dates have been run at Los Alamitos each September, even though the two venues are about 30 miles apart.