Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
‘Ransom’ has more to prove
Ransom the Moon secured a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4 with a win in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at that track in July.
On Oct. 7, Ransom the Moon can solidify his status among the nation’s sprinters when he has a final prep race for the BC Sprint in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs. The $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship is the final Grade 1 prep race for Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita’s autumn meeting.
Ransom the Moon, owned by Mark Martinez and Jeffry Wilke, has won 3 of 4 starts since joining trainer Phil D’Amato’s stable last winter. The 5-yearold Ransom the Moon won the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs May 20 at Santa Anita and was beaten a neck by Danzing Candy in the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs July 1.
“I think he’s a star in the making and he has a couple of races to prove it,” D’Amato said. “He’s a head away from being undefeated in California.”
D’Amato said Ransom the Moon will have his final major exercise Sunday, a workout with jockey Flavien Prat.
The Santa Anita Sprint Championship is expected to include Calculator, Giant Expectations, Moe Candy, Mr. Hinx, Ocho Ocho Ocho, Roy H, and Well Measured.
New baby for trainer Blacker
Forgive Dan Blacker if he’s a bit bleary-eyed this weekend at Santa Anita.
On Wednesday, his wife, Christina, a commentator on TVG, had the couple’s third daughter, Eliza, who is expected home this weekend.
Sunday, Blacker starts Tonahutu in an optional claimer at a mile on turf. There are positive signs Tonahutu can win her second start in this country, after a tough nose loss at Del Mar in an optional claimer Sept. 2.
“It’s weird,” Blacker said Friday morning. “I won a race the day my first daughter was born and a race the day after my second daughter was born.”
Tonahutu will be ridden by Gary Stevens in Sunday’s fourth race. On Sept. 2, Tonahutu closed with a four-wide rally to just miss. The 3-yearold filly has left Blacker optimistic after he watched her train in recent weeks.
“She’s training without any problems and really impressed me in the morning,” he said. “I thought it was good to go back in. There is a little more pace in this and hopefully she can get a clean trip.
“She’s certainly showing a lot of potential.”
Bayakoa to be run at Los Al
The Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes will be run at the Los Alamitos winter meeting in December, but at a cost.
Overnight purses will be reduced to finance the $200,000 race for fillies and mares, Jack Liebau of Los Alamitos and Greg Avioli of the Thoroughbred Owners of California said Thursday.
The two groups held discussions in recent weeks about whether the Bayakoa Stakes would be held. The race was run at Hollywood Park until that track’s closure in 2013. In 2014, the Bayakoa Stakes was run at Los Alamitos. The race was not run in 2015. Last year, the Bayakoa Stakes was held at Del Mar.
Avioli said Thursday that a graded stakes is allowed to take a one-year hiatus, but must be run in two of three successive years to maintain its graded status. The Bayakoa Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles.
“The TOC believes that maintaining graded stakes is a main priority,” Avioli said.
He said overnight purses would undergo a “minor reduction.” Details were not immediately available.
Avioli said the Bayakoa must draw six entrants or Los Alamitos “does not have the obligation to run the race.” Conditions will state for owners to pay $1,500 to enter and $1,500 to start.
With the Bayakoa, there are three graded stakes scheduled for the winter meeting, which runs from Nov. 30-Dec. 17. Two Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles worth $300,000 – the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity and Starlet Stakes for fillies – are scheduled for Dec. 9.
Los Alamitos handle dips
The Los Angeles county fair meeting at Los Alamitos that ended Sept. 24 showed a slight decline in all-sources handle, according to a statement released by the track Thursday.
Handle from ontrack, account-wagering and out-ofstate sources, was $62.7 million compared to $63.1 million in 2016. Handle from California sources grew less than 1 percent, rising to $41.9 million compared to $41.6 million in 2016.
The meeting averaged 6.93 runners per race compared to 7.04 runners per race in 2016.
Apprentice jockey Evin Roman led all riders with 17 wins, five more than Brayan Pena. Doug O’Neill was leading trainer with six wins, one more than Jeff Bonde and Molly Pearson.
Service planned for Lundy
A celebration of life will be held Oct. 11 at Santa Anita for former trainer Sarah “Sally” Lundy, who died in late August on her 63rd birthday.
The service will be held at the 100 to 1 Club at the track at 11:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, her family has requested donations be made in her name to Old Friends in Kentucky.
Lundy had an extensive training career, both on her own and as an assistant. She operated a public stable in New York, where in 1984 she became the first female trainer to run a horse in the Belmont Stakes, and also worked as an assistant to Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel and her former husband, Richard Lundy.
A native of Pennsylvania hunt country, Lundy first worked for steeplechase trainers W. Burling Cocks and Bruce Miller, and even rode in some steeplechase races, before working for David Whiteley, for whom she galloped Instrument Landing.