Santa Anita

2nd-Santa Anita, $61,000, Msw, 12-26, 2yo, 6f, 1:09.97, ft, 1/2 length. MADAKET ROAD (c, 2, Quality Road--Frolic's Dream {GSW, $294,094}, by Smoke Glacken) was runner-up while making his debut in the seven-furlong GIII Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar Nov. 17. The 4-5 favorite raced just off the heels of a three-way battle for the early lead as the quarter went up in :21.99. Stablemate San Saba (Justify) assumed control around the far turn as Madaket Road fell further off the pace through a half in :44.50. San Saba was...

4th-SA, $60K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, post time: 4:32 p.m. ET Zedan Racing Stables' COLLMUS (Gun Runner), purchased for $2.2 million at the 2023 OBS April sale, makes his belated debut for trainer Bob Baffert. The bay colt is out of Perfect Wife (Majesticperfection) and is a full-brother to GIII Indiana Oaks winner Runaway Wife. John Shirreffs saddles C R K Stable's firster Pursuit of Freedom (Speightstown). The gelding was purchased for $725,000 at Keeneland September in 2022. The 3-5 favorite is March of Time (Justify), who makes his first start...

Racing returns to Santa Anita Park Thursday with a stakes-packed card that includes three Grade I races interspersed with three Grade II events. The Arcadia track's traditional Boxing Day feature, the GI Malibu Stakes has attracted a field of eight, with returning GI Kentucky Derby hero Mystik Dan (Goldencents) garnering most of the pre-race headlines. Off since finishing eighth in the GI Belmont Stakes in June, the bay colt is 5-2 on the morning line and breaks from post six. He is cutting back to seven furlongs and makes his...

2nd-SA, $60K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, post time: 2:30 p.m. ET SAN SABA (Justify) topped last year's Fasig-Tipton October Sale on a bid of $725,000 and has drawn the outside in this field of seven. John Velazquez has the call aboard the May 8 foal, whose dam Arienza (Giant's Causeway) finished second in the 2011 GII Fantasy Stakes. The latter is a daughter of 2002 Horse of the Year and treble champion older female Azeri (Jade Hunter), the dam of the talented MGSW/GISP Wine Princess (Ghostzapper) and granddam of GSW Smokin'...

Repole Stable's Accuracy (Arrogate), who romped to a 15-length maiden score at Santa Anita Oct. 19 and added a 7 1/4-length optional claimer win at Del Mar Nov. 29, will tackle stakes company for the first time in Thursday's GI La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita. The chestnut filly's back-to-back wins came at 1 1/16 miles and one mile and she cuts back to seven furlongs for the La Brea, where she is the 5-1 third choice on the morning line and will break from post two under Umberto Rispoli....

GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) worked three furlongs in :37.80 (20/25) Sunday at Santa Anita in preparation for his return to the races in the GI Malibu Stakes Thursday. Mystik Dan was backed up to the seven-eighths pole before breaking into a gallop. He sped things up near the quarter pole, where he found company from a pair of horses to his inside, then continued to accelerate through the lane. After winning the Derby, Mystik Dan was second in the GI Preakness Stakes and has been unraced since...

While 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) will be a main attraction on the Dec. 26 opening-day card at Santa Anita, another highly anticipated foal who is also out of the fan-favorite champion Beholder--this one an unnamed and unraced 2-year-old colt by Curlin--fired a bullet three-furlong morning move Saturday in just his third published workout for trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing. The in-company :36 clocking (1/18) just prior to the Christmas holiday on a non-racing Saturday at Santa Anita might have flown a touch under-the-radar for a juvenile...

A leading trainer in his native Venezuela, Jose D'Angelo decided that it was time to "head to the big leagues," and relocated to South Florida in 2019. After having GIII Sam F. Davis Stakes winner No More Time (Not This Time) on the GI Kentucky Derby trail this spring, winning his first career Grade I with Howard Wolowitz (Munnings) in the Aristocrat Franklin-Simpson Stakes at Kentucky Downs in September, and recording second-place finishes on the biggest of stages with Gabaldon (Gone Astray) in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot...

After vanning nearly 1,900 miles from Fair Grounds in New Orleans, GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) arrived at Santa Anita in good order Wednesday night, got a rest day on Thursday, and stretched his legs on California soil for the first time Friday morning. Backed up to the seven-eighths pole around 8:15 a.m. local time under exercise rider Tony Gutierrez, Mystik Dan galloped about nine furlongs, then took two turns around the paddock before heading back to Barn 54, where he is staying. Trainer Kenny McPeek was not...

Starting the day after its Dec. 26 season opener, Santa Anita Park will drop its lowest-level claiming prices to $8,000 for maidens and $5,000 for other horses. The downward class-level moves, along with the possibility that Southern California's main meet could add additional dates and/or races to its upcoming six-month season that runs through June 15, are part of a negotiated effort to "give more opportunities for horses that have historically raced in Northern California," according to a license application amendment request by Santa Anita. The California Horse Racing Board...

In honor of Laffit Pincay Jr.'s legacy, Santa Anita has renamed its long-standing San Antonio Stakes the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes. The Grade II test will be contested on Thursday, Dec. 26, opening day of Santa Anita' s 90th anniversary season. Pincay will join fellow Hall of Fame jockeys Bill Shoemaker and Eddie Delahoussaye with a Santa Anita stakes race named in their honor. "It really means a lot," Pincay said. "I remember when Shoemaker and Delahoussaye had a stakes named for them and I thought that was very special....

On Monday, the California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) board voted unanimously (with one abstention) to rescind a proposed Golden State Racing meet spanning the first half of next year, essentially leaving Northern California without Thoroughbred racing in 2025 outside of the annual suite of summer fair meets. This means that the Northern Californian horsemen and women have had little time to respond and adapt to a proposal by the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) and 1/ST Racing and Gaming--a business entity under The Stronach Group (TSG) umbrella--to maintain a...