Warren’s Showtime and Club Aspen, stakes-winning progeny of the budding California stallion Clubhouse Ride, could add to their impressive resumes on Saturday.
Warren’s Showtime, a chestnut daughter of Clubhouse Ride bred by Benjamin Warren who is the owner along with his wife, Sally, seeks her third straight stakes victory in the $150,000 Evening Jewel Stakes at six furlongs for three-year-old fillies bred in California.
Club Aspen, a son of Clubhouse Ride who won the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes at Los Alamitos last Dec. 19, goes in the $150,000 Echo Eddie Stakes for three-year-old Cal-breds, also at six furlongs.
Trained by Craig Lewis, each horse is returning to the main track and shortening up in distance after coming off a turf race.
“It’s not an ideal situation,” said Lewis, who trained Clubhouse Ride to win The Californian Stakes twice, once at Hollywood Park and once at Santa Anita. “They’re better around two turns but the money is there. They’re both nice horses and we’ve got to get started somewhere.”
Each horse will be piloted Jorge Velez, who has a monopoly on them, having ridden Cub Aspen in all nine of his starts, winning two, and Warren’s Showtime in all seven of her races, winning four.
Club Aspen is owned by Craig’s older brother, Larry, for whom the 1995 Santa Anita Derby winner Larry the Legend is named.
Clubhouse Ride stands for $3,500 at Legacy Ranch. “The biggest bargain in America,” said Lewis, who proudly points out of the son of Candy Ride ran 43 times while campaigning for six seasons from 2010 to 2015.
Lewis, a native of Los Angeles who celebrated his 73rd birthday on May 1, has learned to roll with punches in a career that began in 1978. To him, the current pandemic is just another bump in the road.
“It’s all about adapting,” he said. ‘That’s how you survive.”
The Echo Eddie, race six on a 10-race card with a 12:30 p.m. first post time:
1- Stir the Pot, Edwin Maldonado, 20-1
2- Rookie Mistake, Mario Gutierrez, 8-1
3- Audace, Abel Cedillo, 15-1
4- Summer Fire, Mike Smith, 8-1
5- Club Aspen, Jorge Velez, 4-1
6- Project Leader, Edgar Payeras, 30-1
7- Bettor Trip Nick, Umberto Rispoli, 3-1
8- Big Sweep, Flavien Prat, 5-2
9- Phantom Boss, Drayden Van Dyke, 4-1
The Evening Jewel, race eight:
1- Smiling Shirlee, Mike Smith, 10-1
2- Bella Vita, Umberto Rispoli, 6-1
3- Been Studying Her, Flavien Prat, 7-2
4- Dim Lights, Assael Espinoza, 15-1
5- Bulletproof One, Abel Cedillo, 5-2
6- Speedy Gigi, Edwin Maldonado, 12-1
7- Warrior’s Moon, Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1
8- Florentine Diamond, Tiago Pereira, 20-1
9- Warren’s Showtime, Jorge Velez, 3-1
10- Homehome, Mario Gutierrez, 15-1
Santa Anita Press Release
