WAITING ON THE FOURYEAR-OLDS

With the scratch of the venerable Hoppertunity, Mubtaahij became the only Grade 1 winner in this year’s seven-horse field. The six-year- old Irish-bred led through seven furlongs before being overhauled by Accelerate, the 5-2 favorite, midway around the far turn.

The five-year- old son of Lookin At Lucky, relishing the off going, quickly distanced himself from Mubtaahij while turning back a brief challenge from Giant Expectations. The lead grew to 4½ lengths at the eighth pole and 5½ at the wire, with the field well distributed over 40 lengths behind him. Mubtaahij held second, with Fear the Cowboy a distant third.

It was the fourth graded win (and first Grade 1) for Accelerate, who has been out of the money only twice in 17 starts. The convincing victory moved him up a few slots in an older-male division that is short on horses capable of winning big races at 9-10 furlongs.

This was the first Santa Anita Handicap since 2003 that failed to draw a single four-year- old. In fact, outside of reigning threeyear-old champ West Coast and the under-appreciated Gunnevera — the two-three finishers in the Pegasus — not much has been heard from last year’s most prom- inent sophomores.

Some of them won’t be heard from again, at least not on the racetrack. Grade 1 winners Battle of Midway, Classic Empire, Practical Joke and Gormley have all moved on to the breeding shed. Three-time graded winner Irap is deceased.

It’s always a good thing for the sport when classic winners return to race at four.

Unfortunately, Always Dreaming, Cloud Computing and Tapwrit have accomplished little since their Triple Crown victories; all three are unraced since finishing off the board in the Travers seven months ago. Recent timed works have been reported for Always Dreaming and Cloud Computing, but plans for the three have yet to be re- vealed.

Additional stakes winners who enjoyed some success at three, but have yet to race at four, include Girvin (winner of the Haskell and Louisiana Derby), Good Samaritan (Jim Dandy) and McCraken (second in the Haskell). Irish War Cry ( Wood Memorial) finished second in the Hal’s Hope Handicap on Feb. 24 in his 2018 debut.

Upcoming older-male division races include the New Orleans Handicap (Mar. 24), OaklawnHandicap (Apr. 14), Charles Town Classic (Apr. 21), Californian (Apr. 28) and Gold Cupat Santa Anita (May 26).

Jeff Scott writes about horse racing Tuesday in The Saratogian. He may be reached at utahpine1@ aol.com.