Santa Anita Derby

Unbeaten star 3-year-old 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) came out of a workout Saturday at Santa Anita with what appears to be a minor problem, one that will keep him from starting in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby. According to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, the horse was off in his left hind leg. Baffert said it was too early to tell if Life Is Good could still make the GI Kentucky Derby. But Elliott Walden, the president and CEO of WinStar Farm, the co-owners...

Beginning Friday, Apr. 2 and in keeping with the State of California's guidelines for large sporting event venues, Santa Anita Park will open to a limited number of fans. The opening is one day prior to the running of the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby. All tickets, which include an assigned seat, must be pre-purchased. For the time being, there will be no walk-up admissions, but that could be changed should COVID-19 numbers improve in Los Angeles County. To receive notifications on ticket sales as soon as they become available,...

Grade I winner Honor A. P. (Honor Code--Hollywood Story, by A.P. Indy) has his first mare confirmed in foal, Lane's End announced Tuesday. The first mare scanned in foal is stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Omaticaya (Ire) (Bernstein), owned by Dell Ridge Farm, LLC. She is from the female family of Grade I winner Muhtarram (Alleged), champion St. Hilarion (Sir Ivor), and graded stakes winners Ballet de France (Northern Dancer) and Profit Column (Private Account). An $850,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase, Honor A. P. broke his maiden as a 2-year-old...

Gary Barber's Get Her Number (Dialed In), off since winning the GI American Pharoah S. last September, continued to work towards his comeback with a four-furlong drill in :49.80 (1/1) at San Luis Rey Training Center Monday. While his next start has yet to be confirmed, it could come as soon as next Saturday's GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park. "I'm happy with the work and he's doing very well," trainer Peter Miller said Monday afternoon. "We are just deciding whether to put him on the plane Wednesday for the...

The California Horse Racing Board issued a statement Friday announcing that the stewards' decision to leave Justify (Scat Daddy) the winner of the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby will stand. The colt tested positive for Scopolamine after finishing first in the race, and went on to sweep the American Triple Crown following his Santa Anita Derby score. A CHRB release issued Friday stated: "After a hearing on Oct. 29, 2020, the Board of Stewards at Santa Anita Park racetrack issued a Statement of Decision Dec. 9 to dismiss complaints filed...

Starting with three prestigious Grade I stakes on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26, Santa Anita's 2020-21 Winter/Spring stakes schedule will offer fans and horsemen a total of 95 stakes through closing day, June 20. This will include 10 Grade I events and 60 graded stakes. Santa Anita's traditional Winter/Spring opener will be highlighted by the seven furlong GI Runhappy Malibu S. for 3-year-olds, the seven furlong GI La Brea S. for 3-year-old fillies, and the GI American Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and one quarter on turf, all...

After 2 1/2 years of closed-session decision-making by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and a complicated court battle to publicly reopen the case over whether to disqualify 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify over a scopolamine positive from when the colt won that year's GI Santa Anita Derby, the initial back-and-forth legal salvos in an Oct. 29 stewards' hearing on the matter indicate that the argument could come down to whether scopolamine was a Class 3 or Class 4 substance at the time of the post-race test. The difference in...

The win by scopolamine-positive Justify in the 2018 running of the GI Santa Anita Derby is now going to come under official administrative scrutiny by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). But Bob Baffert, the trainer of the eventual undefeated Triple Crown winner, will not have a CHRB complaint lodged against him "due to substantial evidence that the scopolamine resulted from environmental contamination from jimson weed," the CHRB stated in a Wednesday press release. As part of a negotiated settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed against the CHRB by the...

Mick Ruis has announced that he has reached an agreement in principle with the California Horse Racing Board regarding a settlement of pending litigation in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The preliminary agreement is intended to resolve claims against the CHRB for failure to hold a purse disqualification hearing related to the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, in which the first-place finisher and subsequent Triple Crown winner, Justify, tested positive for the prohibited substance scopolamine. Bolt d'Oro, owned and trained by Ruis, finished second. Members of the CHRB, the state...

Grade I winner Dinard (Strawberry Road {Aus}--Daring Bidder, by Bold Bidder) was euthanized at Old friends due to the infirmities of old age. The 32-year-old had been pensioned at Old Friends since 2010. Bred and campaigned by Allen E. Paulson and trained by Richard Lundy, Dinard captured the 1991 GI Santa Anita Derby and GII San Rafael S. He retired in 1992 with eight starts, four wins and earnings of $590,250. After retirement, Paulson sent the gelded Dinard to the Kentucky Horse Park with hopes he could be retrained for...

Honor A. P. (Honor Code--Hollywood Story, by Wild Rush) will be retired to Lane's End Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career, the farm announced Friday. The 3-year-old is from the first crop by his sire, who also stands at Lane's End, and is his highest earner. Honor A. P. has finished first or second in each of his four starts, winning the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby in his last outing June 6, and establishing himself as a favorite for the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby. "He's a...

It's not every year that John Shirreffs, a patient trainer with a small stable of mostly older horses, has a GI Kentucky Derby contender. In fact, the last time most remember him being in the spotlight was with a certain mare named Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}), four-time champion and arguably the most popular horse of the 21st century. But with newly-minted Grade I winner Honor A. P. (Honor Code) looking like a leading challenger for the Run for the Roses, Shirreffs joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday...