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Highlights 5-Day Race Week At Santa Anita Starting Thursday
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.—Santa Anita Park, which canceled racing this weekend due to the Los Angeles County fires, will host five straight days of live racing starting on Thursday and ending with a special Martin Luther King Jr. holiday program on Monday. Highlighting the week ahead is California Cup Day on Saturday, which features many of the best horses bred or sired in California.
California Cup Day will have five stakes for statebreds worth $775,000 in total prize money. They are the $175,000 California Chrome California Cup Derby, $175,000 Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks, $175,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic, $125,000 Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint and $125,000 Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course.
All the racing action at Santa Anita starts on Thursday with a 10-race card beginning at 12 p.m. PT. That program was originally scheduled to be held this past Friday. Then the following day on Friday, Santa Anita will host an eight-race program with first post at 12:30 p.m.
On California Cup Day Saturday, in addition to top stakes action racegoers can also enjoy Santa Anita’s popular Burgers & Brews festival. Burgers & Brews features an assortment of gourmet burgers from some of the best vendors in Los Angeles. Ticket packages for Burgers & Brews start at just $19 when purchased online at Santaanita.com.
First post on California Cup Day is 11:30 a.m. for an 11-race card. The California Chrome California Cup Derby features a rematch of Shea Brennan and I’m a Bad Boy, who were separated by just a nose when running one-two in last month’s King Glorious Stakes for statebreds at Los Alamitos.
Shea Brennan is trained by Phil D’Amato for owner-breeder Nick Alexander. The colt by Tough Sunday set the pace in the one-mile King Glorious and gamely held off a late challenge from I’m a Bad Boy to earn his first stakes win. I’m a Bad Boy, a gelding by Stay Thirsty, is trained by Luis Mendez for owner C T R Stables.
The Unusual Heat Turf Classic attracted a highly competitive field of 11. On the Whim is a two-time statebred stakes winner for Harris Farms and trainer Dean Pederson. Jimmy Blue Jeans exits a win against open company in a second-level allowance at a mile on turf for trainer Jeff Mullins and owners Perry Bruno and Amy Gezon. Veteran Grade II winner None Above the Law returns to the statebred ranks following a sixth in the GII Hollywood Turf Cup in November for trainer Jorge Periban and owner Hector Castrellon.
Old Pal is a statebred stakes winner for trainer Mark Glatt and an ownership group that includes Blinkers On Racing Stable, Carolyn Corbett and Jai H. Desai. Glatt also entered Aligato, who was third beaten just a half-length in last year’s Unusual Heat Turf Classic.
The Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks is a wide-open affair with 12 3-year-old fillies set to compete. Several of the runners exit last month’s Soviet Problem Stakes for statebreds going one mile on dirt at Los Alamitos including winner Hey Jessie for trainer Sean McCarthy and owner Sayjay Racing LLC.
The Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint is led by Stay and Scam, a multiple stakes winner versus statebreds who also placed in two Grade III’s last year for trainer Doug O’Neill and Reddam Racing.
In the Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint, Grade III winner Big City Lights looms large for trainer Richard Mandella and owner William R. Peeples. Big City Lights exits an 8 ½ lengths romp in the seven-furlong Cary Grant Stakes for statebreds at Del Mar on Nov. 9. The new face in the lineup is promising Smiling Beast, who makes his stakes debut after winning his first two starts against statebreds. He is trained by Brian Koriner for owners Edward Rusty J. Brown, Alan P. Klein and Philip Lebherz.
To view the full entries for California Cup Day and the rest of this week’s action, please visit santaanita.com.
