Santa Anita

Don Valpredo is to Cal-breds what tungsten is to steel. "I absolutely love the training industry and the breeding industry here," said Vapredo, 85, over the phone from Bakersfield. "In fact, I'm sitting here today with the Stallion Register on my lap, trying to find the right mix for my broodmares." When Valpredo hasn't been producing Cal-breds--along with John Harris, he's responsible for 1994 California Horse of the Year, Soviet Problem--he's sought to popularize them through multiple warmed seats on multiple industry boards over multiple decades. They even named a...

Spendthrift stallion Omaha Beach got the first graded win of his nascent sire career with a blowout victory by Kopion (f, 3, Omaha Beach--Galloping Ami, by Victory Gallop) in Santa Anita's GIII Santa Ynez S. Sunday. Three of the four fillies in the gate were by first-crop sires, but it was the least experienced of the newly minted sophomore fillies whom the public pegged at 1-5 and who put herself firmly in the early GI Kentucky Oaks conversation. The Santa Ynez was worth 10 points on the Oaks trail on...

Jockey Edwin Maldonado sustained a shoulder injury during training hours on Saturday and is expected to be out for the next two to three weeks, his agent Tony Matos told the Santa Anita notes team. Maldonado, 41, was injured when he was unseated from his mount on the track. He was sent to a local hospital to be assessed and was later released. "We have an appointment tomorrow and will know more then. But right now it sounds like it will be about two to three weeks," Matos said. Through...

Zedan Racing's 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic), winner of the GI American Pharoah S. and runner-up in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, will take on five rivals in Saturday's seven-furlong GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita. Regular rider Juan J. Hernandez will be aboard the 4-5 morning-line favorite. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will also saddle front-running Del Mar debut winner and 5-2 second-choice Pilot Commander (Justify). Baffert is seeking his record 13th win in the San Vicente, which was previously held in early February. "They changed...

A former assistant to Bobby Frankel and a licensed trainer for more than 50 years, Eddie Truman announced on Monday that he had sent his final horse to the track on New Year's Eve morning at Santa Anita—ending a racetrack run that dates back to the early 1960s. A winner of 763 races from 5,334 starters, with purse earnings of $15.7 million, Truman said that with his 77th birthday fast approaching Jan. 23, the time was right for him and his wife Elizabeth to step away from a way of...

A week after a pair of California-breds battled to the wire in the GI La Brea S., the state-bred program was back in the spotlight again on Monday's holiday card at Santa Anita when Jaime Renella's Chismosa (Clubhouse Ride) capped a three-win day for her sire with a 1 1/4-length victory in the GIII Las Flores S. Sent off at 8-1, Chismosa settled just off the pace as favored Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca), making just her second career start, blitzed through a quarter in :21.96 and a half in :44.70...

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...

The connections of Lord Bullingdon thought highly enough of their horse to jump him up into graded-stakes company after running second to 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) at Los Alamitos July 9. Second again in the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf S., he was denied again back in maiden special weight company at Santa Anita Oct. 7 before finally breaking through in the Qatar Golden Mile S. Nov. 3. Fourth last out in the GIII Cecil B Demille S., Lord Bullingdon stuck to what he knows best in...

Michael Lund Peterson's Kinza (Carpe Diem--Secret Wonder, by Quality Road) debuted in 'TDN Rising Star' style Friday, leading a field of maiden fillies at Santa Anita gate-to-wire to graduate for trainer Bob Baffert. Purchased for $350,000 as a 2-year-old earlier this year at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale after breezing in :10.1, the 5-1 shot prepped for this spot with a pair of back-to-back bullet works earlier in the month (five furlongs from the gate in :59 3/5 {1/9} Nov. 29 and again in 1:00 flat {1/4}...

Medoro's first stakes race looked eerily similar to her Del Mar debut Dec. 1 with both resulting in narrow, hard-closing wins. Stretching out from five furlongs to one mile Friday, the Peter Eutron trainee broke from an outside gate and was content to settle off the speed while kept wide and in the clear by Antonio Fresu. Racing in the back half of the field of nine, the 2-1 favorite began to make up ground into leader Chatalas and drew alongside that rival at the head of the lane. Unleashed...

Gulfstream Park's Saturday program will offer four stakes races-- three graded--including the GIII Harlan's Holiday S., a prep for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and the GII Fort Lauderdale S., a prep for the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. The Harlan's Holiday drew a field of 11, including last out GII Hagyard Fayette S. winner and 5-2 morning-line favorite O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman); last year's GII Remsen S. winner Dubyuhnell (Good Magic), who returned from the shelf with an optional claiming win at Keeneland Oct. 28; and the streaking...

8th-SA, $65K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 6:29 p.m. ET. TAHINI (American Pharoah) debuts Friday afternoon for Kretz Racing. Initially sold for $200,000 at Keeneland September, the filly went for $475,000 at the OBS March Sale after a 10 flat breeze during the under tack show. The George Papaprodromou trainee is out of SP More Fun Again (Arch), whose own graded stakes winning dam Silver Reunion (Harlan's Holiday) produced GII Lake Placid S. heroine Speaktomeofsummer (Summer Front). Also making her first start is Ms Bo J (Mitole), who was purchased for...