OUT OF THE GATE
SANTA ANITA LEADERS (Through Thursday) JOCKEYS / WINS
Juan Hernandez / 95 Flavien Prat / 73
Tyler Baze / 46
Abel Cedillo / 39
Diego Herrera / 33 TRAINERS / WINS
Philip D’Amato / 52
Doug O’Neill / 37
John Sadler / 35
Mark Glatt / 32
Bob Baffert / 27
WEEKEND STAKES AT SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $100,000 Grade III Affirmed Stakes, 3-yearolds, 1 1⁄16 miles
Sunday
• $200,000 Grade II Summertime Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1 1⁄16 miles
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Jack Christopher will put his 3-0 record on the line in the $400,000 Grade I Woody Stephens, one of eight graded stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday. The Woody Stephens, named for the late New York-based trainer who won five consecutive Belmont Stakes from 198286, drew a field of six. Jack Christopher has won his three starts, including the Grade I Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park last fall, by a combined 15 1⁄4 lengths. The 1-2 morning-line favorite, he goes into the Woody Stephens off a 3 3⁄4-length victory in the Grade II Pat Day
Mile at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day.
• The speedy Brickyard Ride, fifth as the 1-5 favorite in the Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita on May 29, sustained a quarter crack to a hind foot and will be sidelined for an indefinite period. “We sent him to San Luis Rey Downs for treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for 10 days, then we’ll bring him back,” trainer Craig Lewis told Santa Anita publicity. “He looks pretty good right now. Hopefully, he’ll be better and we’ll try to resume training.” Brickyard Ride, a Californiabred son of Clubhouse Ride, was seeking his fifth consecutive stakes victory in the Triple Bend, which was won by American Theorem.
• Santa Anita announced its fall meet stakes schedule this week, highlighted by five Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races scheduled for the first two weekends of the 18-day meet that begins Friday, Sept. 30. Three of the Win and You’re In races are $300,000 Grade I stakes – the Awesome Again (a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic) on Oct. 1 and the American Pharoah (Juvenile) and Rodeo Drive (Filly and Mare Turf) on Oct. 8. The meet will include 26 stakes races, 15 of them graded. Overnight purses will remain the same as they were in 2021, as will most stakes races.
— Art Wilson