Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
FIFTH RACE
This claiming route ($12.5k, N2L) is a scramble. CLICKJAB drops to the bottom class level for the first time, following a respectable fourthplace comeback that was his first in more than a year. CLICKJAB has run well on this racetrack, and should be forwardly placed coming out of sprints. RUN LIKE RHETT drops from starter allowance races, including three runner-up finishes in summer/fall, to race at the bottom for the first time. He did not have good trips either of his last two starts. MOONLIGHT BLUE also drops in class and stretches from a sprint to a route. His one victory was a front-running maiden win on this track last year. Same frontrunning tactics here, or will he be taken off the pace? ROOSEVELT was gelded after he was claimed last out for $16k. His maiden-32 victory two back would make him a logical contender vs. this crew.
SIXTH RACE
Interesting conditions in this $10k claiming sprint, which is restricted to trainers with “20 horses or less in their care in California.” That suits East Coast-based David Jacobson, who has a winter stable at Santa Anita. Problem is, his runner in this race is one big question mark. That is LEWYS VAPORIZER, the best horse with the worst pattern. Claimed for $62.5k in August, he flashed speed and faded one week ago, and now drops from N2X/optional claiming all the way to $10k claiming. His summer form would crush, but his current form is dubious. AIRFOIL makes perfect sense. He won a starter allowance last out first start after being re-claimed by trainer Justin Clark; the gelding won for $8k and $16k during summer, and returns to Santa Anita in top form. WINNING CAUSEWAY finished a respectable third last out while making his first start in five months. Trainer Genaro Vallejo was 5-for-16 in December.
SEVENTH RACE
PEACH COVE adds Lasix, shortens to a turf sprint, and makes her first start since being claimed by John Sadler. She ran once down the hill, and ran fairly well. In a wide-open $50k claiming race for fillies and mares, she can win with a pressing trip. MONGOLIAN SHOPPER is speed, making her first start in California after a series of sharp turf efforts last summer in the Midwest. Win or lose, she will be among the front-runners. SNOW CLOUD will rally late, while GIRL DOWNSTAIRS is a five-time winner that might be ranked too low by this handicapper. This is her first try on the hill.
EIGHTH RACE
Runner-up twice by a nose to a subsequent G1 winner, MIDNIGHT BISOU can score her first career win in this 7f sprint that should set up for her closing style. She might have been best last time finishing second behind next-out Los Alamitos Starlet winner Dream Tree, but a slow start cost ‘BISOU her best chance. She gets a rider switch to Mike Smith, who worked her last week, and meets a field with speed to run at. Off the pace and into the winner’s circle. That is, if she can catch WAR HEROINE. The latter set a blazing pace and crushed maidens two months ago in an impressive debut. The final time was ordinary, but she did the hard work early in the race by smoking the opening half-mile in :45.28 before drawing away. The filly she dueled with and put away (Thirteen Squared) returned to win by more than six. If this race is won on the front end, WAR HEROINE would be the most likely to do it. WIN THE WAR ships in from Woodbine where she won both starts including stakes romp last out by more than 11 lengths. Her synthetic-surface Beyer was 93; the question if can the War Front nd filly reproduce the number on dirt. Speedster ARTISTIC DIVA is 2-for-2, but stuck on the rail with a fast filly four stalls to her outside. ‘DIVA and WAR HEROINE could compromise one another on the front end.
NINTH RACE
STURDY ONE returns to the $25k claiming ranks for this turf sprint, after flirting with N1X and N2X foes much of 2017. She finished in the money her last five on the Santa Anita hill, and could be tough to beat on the drop. Third start off a short layoff, ready to fire. RED LIVY is speed on the outside, which often leads to a good trip in downhill sprints, either setting the pace or pressing while in the clear. Both wins by RED LIVY were front-running scores on the hill; her speed and class drop could make her the one to catch. FRUITY returns from a one-year layoff for a stable that came out firing early this meet. FRUITY did not hit the board any of three previous starts on the hill, but her closing fourth at this level in May 2016 makes her a legit candidate from off the pace.