Angel Nadeshiko front-running victory in the $100,000 Robert J. Frankel Stakes under Antonio Fresu. (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
+ Popular Cal-Bred Brickyard Ride Set To Return At 7
+ Muth, Wine Me Up Among Nominees To GII San Vicente
+ Special New Year’s Day Racing Set For Santa Anita On Monday
Santa Anita Stable Notes By Victor Ryan
ARCADIA, Calif.—In Saturday’s GIII Robert J. Frankel at 1 1/8 miles on turf, 4-year-old filly Angel Nadeshiko earned her first graded-stakes win under a cagey front-running ride by jockey Antonio Fresu.
For veteran trainer Patrick Gallagher, the win was his first graded-stakes tally since the 2020 GI Del Mar Oaks with Red Lark.
“We’ve had a bit of a dry spell. Hopefully there are more to come,” said Gallagher, who has 683 career wins with more than $37.1 million in purse earnings.
Angel Nadeshiko’s breakthrough win came as the second-longest shot on the board at 18-1. She was one of two horses in the Frankel for Gallagher. Her more fancied stablemate, Yerwanthere (2-1), settled in last behind Angel Nadeshiko’s moderate pace and rallied to miss third by a head under Umberto Rispoli.
Gallagher was disappointed Yerwanthere missed a graded stakes placing, which would help add to her value as a potential broodmare.
“That would have been a big help,” Gallagher noted.
As for Angel Nadeshiko, she was exiting an off-the-board finish in the one-mile Dark Mirage Stakes on dirt at Los Alamitos Sept. 23. The Frankel was her sixth try on turf in 16 starts.
“We’ve run her short on turf, long on turf. Short on dirt, long on dirt. We’ve experimented with a lot of things,” Gallagher said. “I know things set up for her yesterday, but the bottom line is we’re happy we won.”
With the turf course listed as good due to earlier rain, Angel Nadeshiko and Fresu got away with tepid fractions of 25.67, 51.16, 1:15.41 and 1:38.98 for the opening mile. The 8-5 favorite, Lakota Spirit with Juan Hernandez up, rallied late but fell short by three-quarters of a length on the wire.
“She was in the right spot at the right time,” Gallagher said. “She was able to get an easy lead and they left her alone. We’ll take it.”
Owned by U.S. Equine, Angel Nadeshiko is by Carpe Diem and is the first foal out of the unraced Arch mare Cianchetta. She was purchased for $100,000 at the 2021 OBS April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. The Frankel score moved Angel Nadeshiko’s record to 3-3-2 in 16 starts with $227,780 in earnings.
Popular Cal-Bred Brickyard Ride Set To Return As 7-Year-Old
Following Brickyard Ride’s solid third-place effort in the GII San Antonio here on opening day Tuesday, trainer Craig Lewis confirmed the popular California-bred full horse will be back next year as a 7-year-old.
“He bounced out of the San Antonio in great shape. We’ll look at a few different spots for him next,” Lewis added.
Brickyard Ride’s effort in the San Antonio pushed his career earnings to $895,477 for owner-breeder Alfred A. “Sonny” Pais. The son of California stallion Clubhouse Ride has won 13 times in 30 starts, which includes three graded stakes and eight stakes overall.
In the 1 1/16-mile San Antonio, Brickyard Ride, set the pace under Umberto Rispoli before being overtaken in the stretch. He crossed the wire 2 ¾ lengths behind winner Newgrange.
Muth, Wine Me Up Among Nominees For Saturday’s GII San Vicente
The road to the GI Santa Anita Derby on April 6 kicks off Saturday with the GII San Vicente for newly turned 3-year-olds going seven furlongs on the main track.
Leading the list of nominees are Muth and Wine Me Up, who ran one-two in the GI American Pharoah here Nov. 3 for Bob Baffert. Muth followed his American Pharoah win with a runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Nov. 3. Wine Me Up, who finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, returned in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity Dec.16 and finished fourth.
Also nominated to the San Vicente for Baffert is Pilot Commander, a two-length debut winner going six furlongs at Del Mar Nov. 11. Owned by CSLR Racing Partners, the son of Justify was purchased for $700,000 earlier this year at the OBS March 2-year-olds in training sale.
Trainer Tim Yakteen nominated Moonlit Sonata, an impressive debut winner going 6 ½ furlongs at Del Mar Nov. 25. In that effort, the Malibu Moon colt broke slowly, but swept past the field with a wide rally and won going away by 2 ¼ lengths.
Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella nominated Boltage, who would be switching to dirt after three straight turf efforts. The Bolt d’Oro colt, who brought $240,000 at auction earlier this year, most recently was third in the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf Sept. 12 and off-the-board in the GIII Zuma Beach here Oct. 8.
Nominee Slider would also be going turf-to-dirt for trainer John Sadler if he were to run. By Jimmy Creed, Slider won the Speakeasy Stakes at five furlongs on turf here Oct. 7. He next tried the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and checked in ninth on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.
The field for the San Vicente will be set on Wednesday.
FINISH LINES ___________________________
Training on Saturday was limited to joggers only due to this weekend’s rainstorm. Full training will resume on Monday. Additionally, the track will be open for full training on Tuesday…
Only two favorites won on Saturday’s nine-race card. For the meet, favorites have connected at a 34.5 percent clip…
A winner of the Grade II San Felipe Stakes in March of 2022, but winless in six subsequent starts, Richard Mandella’s Forbidden Kingdom was all business in taking yesterday’s Grade II Joe Hernandez Stakes, winning by a half-length at 6 ½ furlongs on turf while earning a solid 96 Beyer Speed Figure off a six-month freshening…
Santa Anita is hosting a special New Year’s Day card on Monday with first post at 12 p.m. PT. The feature is the GIII Las Flores for older fillies and mares going six furlongs on the main track…
On-track promotions New Year’s Day include $1 beers and sodas and $2 hot dogs for all those in attendance.
