Santa Anita

Fair Maiden (Street Boss), last seen scoring a breakthrough win in the GI La Brea S. Dec. 26, makes her seasonal bow Saturday in the GII Santa Monica S. in Arcadia. Running on synthetic and turf during her five-race juvenile campaign, including a black-type score at Woodbine, the Godolphin homebred kicked off 2020 with a convincing optional claimer score in her first try on dirt at Churchill in September. Fourth to the re-opposing Merneith (American Pharoah) next out in Keeneland's Qatar Fort Springs S. Nov. 7, the chestnut rallied four...

The 'Wild West Bonus,' offering a $1-million payday to the connections of any horse that is able to win the $400,000 GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 6, the $300,000 GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita May 31 and the $750,000 GI TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar Aug. 21, was unveiled Monday morning by officials at Santa Anita Park and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Any horse that manages a sweep would take home a total of $1,870,000. Each of the three events is contested over the Classic distance of...

Exline-Border Racing LLC, SAF Racing & Richard Hausman's Dream Shake (Twirling Candy), completely ignored at 20-1 while facing an extremely tough-looking group of Santa Anita sophomores led by Bob Baffert hype horse Bezos (Empire Maker), whipped around the turn and ran up the score to snag 'TDN Rising Star' honors. The dark bay, who was a $32,000 KEESEP yearling turned $75,000 OBSAPR buy off a :10.1 breeze, sported an unassuming worktab on paper capped by a 1:01 flat (11/64) spin a week earlier (XBTV video) for a typically patient barn....

'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour (Street Sense) had to work a bit harder Saturday than his 2-5 odds for Santa Anita's GII San Vicente S. might have predicted, but it's never easy to hook a Bob Baffert runner--even when you're one yourself. A 3 1/2-length debut winner while earning a solid 88 Beyer Speed Figure going a furlong shorter Jan. 15, the Gary and Mary West homebred broke on top from the outside six hole, but was soon outsprinted by stablemate Freedom Fighter (Violence). The bay sat perched in third...

A field of six, led by Acclimate (Acclamation) and Masteroffoxhounds (War Front), goes postward in the GII San Marcos S. Saturday at Santa Anita. The 1 1/4-mile turf race had originally been scheduled for Jan. 30, but was pushed back to avoid the winter rainstorm which hit Arcadia a week ago. Rockingham Ranch's Masteroffoxhounds will be making his third stateside appearance in the San Marcos. The bay colt, a maiden winner in Ireland last summer, was seventh going one mile in his U.S. debut last November. He powered home to...

David Bernsen, LLC and Rockingham Ranch's Kalypso (Brody's Cause) will look for a second straight score when she goes postward against four foes in the one-mile GIII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita Saturday. The chestnut filly won the six-furlong Anoakia S. in Arcadia last October and was second when stretched to 1 1/16 miles in the Dec. 5 GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos. Cut back to seven furlongs, the Bob Baffert trainee scored by 1 3/4 lengths in the Jan. 3 GII Santa Ynez S. Richard Mandella sends...

Gary and Mary West's homebred Concert Tour (Street Sense), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following an effortless debut victory, steps right up to graded stakes company in the seven-furlong GII San Vicente S. at Santa Anita Saturday. The Bob Baffert trainee wired the field by 3 1/2 lengths while going six furlongs at Santa Anita Jan. 15 and looks like he'll relish added distance. Baffert, who has won the San Vicente a record 10 times, also sends out Freedom Fighter (Violence). The dark bay colt just held on after setting...

With Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief) off to the breeding shed to stand alongside his superstar sire at Spendthrift Farm, how do you follow up on a 2020 season that included wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic? For Michael Behrens's budding MyRacehorse microshare partnership and B. Wayne Hughes's Spendthrift Farm, having a promising filly on the GI Kentucky Oaks trail is certainly a good place to begin. Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a visually impressive maiden winner for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella in...

Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit (Protonico) set a searching early pace in Saturday's GIII Robert B. Lewis S. over a Santa Anita main track that yielded below-par times in the aftermath of storms that dropped as much as 2 1/2 inches of rain in and around Arcadia. He was there for the taking in the final eighth of a mile, but the Florida-bred dug in doggedly to take a three-way photo from Roman Centurian (Empire Maker) and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow). "That reminded me a...

Hall of Famer Bob Baffert will have two shots at adding to his growing record with a potential ninth win in Saturday's GIII Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita. The improving $1-million Keeneland September graduate Spielberg (Union Rags), MGISP as a juvenile, posted a hard-fought, breakthrough nose victory in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity last time Dec. 19. The runner-up that day The Great One (Nyquist), meanwhile, returned with a flashy, 14-length maiden victory for trainer Doug O'Neill last weekend, good for a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. Baffert will...

With strong rains predicted to hit Southern California over the next several days, Santa Anita Park has made the decision to cancel its Friday card.  Friday's entries were originally scheduled to close this past Sunday, but track management opted to wait until Tuesday in order to better evaluate the weather forecast. In addition to Friday's cancellation, given the amount of rain predicted over the next few days, two turf stakes, the GII San Marcos set for Saturday and the Baffle S. scheduled for Sunday, will now be shifted to next...

Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux suffered fractures in his back when going down in a spill in Saturday's fifth race at Santa Anita. In a post on his Facebook page, Desormeaux said the spill caused a "couple little bone cracks" in his back, but that he will not need surgery. Desormeaux added that his doctor "says it's completely a pain management situation." The 50-year-old three-time Eclipse Award-winning rider was aboard Scat's Choice (Scat Daddy) for trainer Vann Belvoir in the $25,000 claiming event when the 3-year-old filly broke down,...