OUT OF THE GATE
SANTA ANITA LEADERS (Through Thursday) Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 40 Flavien Prat / 35
Antonio Fresu / 33
Frankie Dettori / 25 Umberto Rispoli / 19 Trainers / Wins
Mark Glatt / 21
Doug O'Neill / 21
Phil D'Amato / 18
Bob Baffert / 17
Steve Knapp / 16 WEEKEND STAKES AT SANTA ANITA
Saturday
▪ $300,000 Grade I Beholder Mile, fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, 1 mile
▪ $100,000 Grade III Santa Ysabel Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 11/16 miles ▪ $100,000 San Simeon Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, about 61/2 furlongs on turf Sunday
▪ $100,000 China Doll Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf
DOWN THE STRETCH
▪ Adare Manor, top older female in California in 2023, makes her 5-year-old debut in the Beholder Mile. The Bob Baffert-trained millionaire faces La Cañada winner Desert Dawn, rising Sweet Azteca, Todd Pletcher-trained shippers Green Up and Interstatedaydream. Also Saturday at Santa Anita, Baffert's unbeaten 3-year-old filly Kinza heads the Santa Ysabel.
▪ The $400,000 Grade III Tampa Bay Derby field Saturday is led by Sam F. Davis Stakes winner No More Time (13th in Kentucky Derby qualifying points with 20) and Holy Bull Stakes runner-up Domestic Product (26th with 10). ▪ Top Derby hope in California? Las Vegas says it's Phil D'Amato-trained Stronghold. He ranks 22nd in the odds: 45-1 at Caesars, 70-1 at Circa, according to Horse Racing Nation. Mc Vay and Scatify had a shot at Derby contention in the San Felipe on Sunday but ran behind Imagination and Wine Me Up, Baffert trainees ineligible for Churchill Downs races.
▪ Newgate's win in the Santa Anita Handicap lifted the 4-year-old colt into the National Thoroughbred Racing Association top
10 at No. 6. Ahead of him are Señor Buscador, Saudi Crown, National Treasure, Idiomatic and White Abarrio.
▪ Baffert said after Newgate's win that Santa Anita should consider scheduling the Big `Cap on Sundays in the future to avoid competition for attention from other stakes around the
U.S. on Saturdays. It's a thought, even though Sunday's postponed card drew lower on-site attendance (16,581) and total betting ($14.7 million) than the Saturday in 2023.
▪ Santa Anita's Awesome Again Stakes will be subsumed by an event called the California Crown on Sept. 28 and will be linked to a $5 million bonus for any horse winning that race as well as the May 18 Preakness and Jan. 25, 2025, Pegasus World Cup. The plan was announced by the company that owns Santa Anita, Pimlico and Gulfstream Park. ▪ Quarterhorses Asscher and Political Rivalry ran the fastest qualifying races Sunday at Los Alamitos for, respectively, the March 24 El Primero Del Ano
Derby and the March 23 Los Alamitos Oaks.
▪ Belmont Park makeover renderings include a more compact and modern grandstand and a second turf course. The Elmont, N.Y., track should reopen in time for the 2026 Belmont Stakes. The third race of the Triple Crown will be held at Saratoga on June 8. ▪ Former Dodgers outfielder Jayson Werth is a 10% owner of Dornoch, No. 2 to Timberlake in Kentucky Derby qualifying points. Werth told writer Tom Pedulla he saw racehorses as “mythological creatures” as a kid and got into ownership after retiring from baseball.