Slow Down Andy dominates Santa Anita feature
ARCADIA » He's named Slow Down Andy, but there's nothing slow about the 4-yearold son of Nyquist. Not the way he ran Saturday in the $300,000 Grade I Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita.
Slow Down Andy, the 2-1 favorite, carved out fractions of 22.97, 46.91 and 1:10.59 under Mario Gutierrez en route to a final clocking of 1:47.62 for the mile and an eighth over a main track labeled wet fast after early afternoon showers.
The Doug O'Neill-trained colt has won two of three at Santa Anita and might be rounding into Breeders' Cup form after Saturday's gate-to-wire victory on the heels of his third-place finish in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar behind 3-year-old standouts Arabian Knight and Geaux Rocket Ride.
Slow Down Andy, who won the Sunland Park Derby as a 3-year-old, had lost five consecutive races before Saturday since winning the Grade II Del Mar Derby on the grass in 2022. He beat Defunded by 2 1/4 lengths. Senor Buscador finished third, a length behind Defunded and 1 1/2 lengths clear of National Treasure.
“He's always a good breaker,” Gutierrez said. “I think we took advantage of the good, clean break. He relaxed. I tried not to fight him. Sometimes I fight him and he gives me his head, so my goal today was to let him run comfortable and it paid off.”
O'Neill said Lava Man's exercise rider, Tony Romero, gets on Slow Down Andy in the mornings and is impressed.
“He (Romero) says this horse is very special,” O'Neill said.
Gutierrez believes other horses will have their hands full in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
“Right now, he's fit,” he said. “He's ready to run in the Breeders' Cup.”
Said owner Paul Reddam: “The track has been pretty speed favorite all day and he just broke so smoothly that he was on top in three jumps and that worked out.” SANTA ANITA SPRINT » The 1-2 finishers in the $200,000 Grade II race, Dr. Schivel and Speed Boat Beach, might be headed to a rematch in the Breeders' Cup Sprint after their stirring stretch duel and final clocking of 1:08.49 for the 6-furlong distance over a wet-fast track.
Dr. Schivel, a hard-luck loser by a nose in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Sprint, held off Speed Boat Beach by a head under Juan Hernandez as the 2-1 favorite to collect the $120,000 winner's share while winning for the seventh time in 14 starts. Trained by Mark Glatt, he's won four of six at Santa Anita, the site of this year's Breeders' Cup on Nov. 3-4.
Speed Boat Beach, a lightly raced 3-year-old ridden by Victor Espinoza, went into the race off a sevenmonth layoff and lost for only the second time in five races.
CITY OF HOPE MILE » The hard-knocking Hong Kong
Harry continued his winning ways, rallying in the stretch for a victory by a neck over Astronomer as the even-money favorite. Ridden by Hernandez, the Irish-bred gelding ran his overall record to 10 victories in 17 tries and won for the fourth time in six tries at Santa Anita. Hong Kong Harry, trained by Philip D'Amato, covered the 1 mile over a turf course labeled good in 1:33.77. Pacesetter Astronomer held second by one length over Twist. EDDIE D STAKES » Mike Smith won his second race on the 10-race card, rallying with 9-5 favorite Lane Way to beat Bran by a half length in the $200,000 Grade II race at 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf. The race was originally scheduled to be run down the hillside course but was switched to the turf chute because of rain.