Santa Anita

In the fall of 2016, trainer Peter Eurton saddled a big longshot in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita who rode a game upset to an improbable divisional championship. Three years later, he did the same thing, this time with an unheralded colt in the Juvenile, whose shocking and resolute victory propelled him to an unforeseeable Eclipse Award of his own. Eurton hopes the comparisons end there, however, as his Storm the Court (Court Vision) prepares to get his sophomore season underway while adding the weight of...

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's Speed Pass (Bodemeister), an open-lengths winner in two outings against lesser company at Los Alamitos, will get the acid test Saturday at Santa Anita in an evenly-matched renewal of the GII Palos Verdes S. Bought for $150,000 at Keeneland September in 2017, the dark bay didn't make his debut until Sept. 20 of his 3-year-old season, but rallied smartly up the rail to graduate at this trip. Catching a sealed track following a brief layoff Dec. 7, the gelding took a significant step...

The Stronach Group issued a statement Wednesday in response to comments from a spokesman for California Governor Gavin Newsom published in a Monday New York Times story entitled 3 Horses Die in 3 Days at Santa Anita, Prompting Fresh Criticism of Racetrack. In an email to the Times, Newsom's press secretary Jesse Melgar said: "While the California Horse Racing Board and Santa Anita have made progress in reducing equine fatalities over the past year and C.H.R.B. has made recommendations to further improve horse safety, Governor Newsom remains concerned and believes...

To say there's a touch of the picaresque about John Shear's life story would be like saying Pope Benedict flirts with Catholicism. During an over-stuffed 99 years and counting, Santa Anita's beloved paddock captain has had front row seats to historical game changers on both sides of the pond. He's rubbed shoulders with royalty and assassins, film stars and gangsters. Fate has intervened more than once on his behalf in ways that'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand taller than a redwood. "You'll have to forgive...

Umberto Rispoli understands how hard it can be for a foreign rider to break in at a place like Santa Anita. That's why he was delighted to be tied for seventh in the standings at the current meet with six wins after Sunday's card. But the former champion rider in his native Italy didn't come here to be mid-pack in the jockey standings. "My target is to win some of the major races in the U.S.," he said. "Flavien Prat is a good example. He came from Europe and he...

Tired of all the bad news? So were we. Tonight, we start our new series where we ask people from non-horse racing families two questions: how they get hooked, and how they'll hook someone else on horse racing. SOL KUMIN What was the experience that made you fall in love with horse racing? Lady Eli. When we bought our first group of horses 5-6 years ago we knew absolutely nothing about the sport of horse racing. In that first group, we ended up with future champion and Breeders Cup winner...

A small group of protestors and the news media were back in force at Santa Anita Sunday after Tikkun Olam (Temple City) collided with another horse on the training track and was euthanized. It was the third equine fatality in as many days at the track. Tikkun Olam's fatal injury followed breakdowns by Harliss (Midshipman) Friday and Uncontainable (Acclamation) Saturday, respectively--both of which were on the turf--and prompted the strongest denunciation yet from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "Three dead horses in three days requires immediate action," PETA...

George Bolton, Arthur Hoyeau, Barry Lipman and Mark Mathiesen's Nadal (Blame) broke slowly as the 6-5 favorite in his Santa Anita unveiling Sunday, but he had no trouble giving his foes a head start, and ultimately proved too much for them to handle en route to being named a 'TDN Rising Star'. A $65,000 KEESEP yearling turned $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream grad after a :10 flat breeze, the Bob Baffert pupil had been buzzed about for some time despite a setback over the summer, and finally showed what all the fuss...

Editor's note: What's in a name is a new feature where we give a shout-out to owners and trainers whose cleverness might have gone right over our heads the first time... by Andrea Branchini ODYSSEUS, (c, 4, Candy Ride {Arg}--Charm the Giant {Ire} {GSW, $336,309}, by Giant's Causeway. Santa Anita, $56,500, Msw, 1-17, 4/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.49, gd. O-Cheyenne Stables LLC, Perry R Bass II & Ramona S Bass; B-Ron & Deborah McAnally (KY); T-Richard E Mandella. "Charming the giant" is exactly what the hero of the Odyssey did with...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-SA, $55K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 3:30 p.m. ET Trainer Bob Baffert unveils two more members of his extremely well-stocked stable in the form of a pair of pricey OBS acquisitions. Merneith (American Pharoah) was a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton November weanling turned $600,000 OBSMAR graduate after a :20 4/5 breeze in Ocala. Her dam Flattermewithroses (Flatter) became a stakes winner when breaking her maiden at 53-1 in the 2012 Voodoo Dancer S. over seven yielding turf furlongs at Belmont. Reem (Danza), a $74,000 Fasig-Tipton October...

Officials at Breeders' Cup Limited have issued a 25-page evaluation report from Dr. Larry Bramlage on the fatal injury suffered by Mongolian Groom (Hightail) during the final stages of the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Classic. His was the only injury among the 229 horses that raced during the two days of the Breeders' Cup. The entire evaluation as delivered to the Breeders' Cup Board of Directors can be viewed here. In trying to address the issue of why the injury happened, Bramlage stated that Mongolian Groom was "harboring a fine...

Trainer Mick Ruis filed a petition against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Monday in the Los Angeles Superior Court for writ of mandate and damages. The petition concerns Justify (Scat Daddy)'s victory in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, in which the Ruis-trained Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) finished runner-up to the Bob Baffert-trained runner. In a post-race urine sample, Justify tested positive for scopolamine--a prohibited substance--as revealed by The New York Times in a bombshell story September of last year. Scopolamine is found in jimsonweed, which is known to...