GII Joe Hernandez S.

Fresh off a second-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, Anthony Fanticola's Motorious (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) captured Saturday's GII Joe Hernandez Stakes down the hill at Santa Anita. After bobbling slightly out of the gate, Motorious settled kindly midpack behind a :21.71 and :43.78 pace set by 60-1 Code Duello (Honor Code). Extremely wide after crossing the dirt, he stayed on his wrong lead for several beats before hooking up with two-back Lure Stakes winner Sumter (War Front) in the lane. Sumter was slightly quicker as the two...

When a horse has never been outside of the lead at first call in any of his 11 prior races, chances are good that he'll be a contender right from the jump. In this case, despite not having raced over the turf since contesting a five-furlong sprint as a juvenile in Oct. 2021, Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) continued to put that trademark early speed to use and took the field coast-to-coast in the GII Joe Hernandez S. It's been a slow 2023 for the Richard Mandella trainee with only a...

Trainer Peter Miller, currently third in wins and fourth in earnings at Santa Anita Park, has been fined $500 for a Class 4 finding of isoflupredone that was confirmed via split-sample testing when his trainee, Hembree (Proud Citizen), won the GII Joe Hernandez S. at 5-1 odds Jan. 1. Isoflupredone is an injectable steroid primarily administered for anti-inflammatory effects. The drug's 4C categorization is on the less-severe side of the scale of the Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances list published by the Association of Racing Commissioners International. According to...