Graded Winner Adare Manor Returns Saturday

February 18, 2023

Adare Manor gallops at Santa Anita Feb. 12 (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)

• Van Dyke Scores 18, But Jocks Lose Charity Hoops Game In OT
• Alice Marble Returns To Dirt In Sunday’s Spring Fever
• Coast-To-Coast Pick 5 Is Set For Saturday
• Special President’s Day Card Scheduled For Monday

Stable Notes by Victor Ryan

ARCADIA, Calif.— Adare Manor, sidelined since a disappointing sixth in the Grade I Cotillion at Parx Sept. 24, returns to action Saturday in a second-level allowance going seven furlongs.

Winner of last year’s Grade III Las Virgenes for Bob Baffert, Adare Manor was sent to the farm to regroup following the Cotillion and returned to training in December. She has worked six times for her 4-year-old bow, which includes a bullet five-furlong drill in 59.00 seconds on Feb. 3 at Los Alamitos. While Baffert is happy with how she’s trained, he indicated this is meant as simply a starting point for bigger things ahead.

“I just got her over here and she could probably use another work or two. But I saw that race come up and those can be hard to fill, so I figured I’d rather give her a race. She’s doing well and has worked well. This will set her up for a stakes.

Last year, Adare Manor was second by a neck in the Grade II Santa Anita Oaks and again was runner-up in the Grade II Black-Eyes Susan at Pimlico. In the Cotillion, Adare Manor briefly pressed the pace before dropping anchor and finishing 19 ¼ lengths adrift. The decision was then made to turn her out.

“She came back (from Parx) and was just tired,” Baffert said. “These horses sometimes they go through a phase where they just lose interest. So, I freshened her up, turned her out and gave her some time.

By Uncle Mo, Adare Manor will be ridden by Santa Anita’s leading rider Juan Hernandez for the first time. She’ll also race without blinkers for the first time.

“The plan is to have her ready for all the big races in the summer,” Baffert noted.

Adare Manor will have to deal with some accomplished rivals in her comeback, which goes as the eighth race on Saturday with an approximate post time of 4:06 p.m.Ain’t Easy, a Grade II winner, drops into the allowance ranks for trainer Phil D’Amato following a sixth in the Grade I La Brea going seven furlongs on Dec. 26. Trainer Mark Glatt also sends out a pair of comebackers in Ironic Twist, who last year won her only two career starts at Santa Anita; and Teddy’s Barino, who had won four straight before finishing third in the Grade III Chillingworth going 6 ½ furlongs on Oct. 12. Teddy’s Barino is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind Adare Manor.

Santa Anita Jockeys Lose Charity Hoops Game In Overtime

It was a thriller at LaSalle High School in Pasadena Thursday night when a team of Santa Anita jockeys took on Holy Angels Middle School in their 53rd annual Charity Basketball Game. After regulation ended in a 30-30 tie, Holy Angels did all the scoring in overtime to come away with a 35-30 victory.

Drayden Van Dyke starred for the jockeys when leading all scorers with 18 points. Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux and jockey Ricardo Gonzalez each added four points.

“I missed a lot of shots, but had a great time,” Van Dyke said Friday morning.

Veteran agent Craig O’Bryan, who represents Santa Anita leading rider Juan Hernandez, has a long history with the Holy Angels charity game. He said this was the first time it took overtime to decide a winner.“It was great,” O’Bryan said. “The place was packed and lots of energy.”

“It was great,” O’Bryan said. “The place was packed and lots of energy.”

The Charity Basketball Game serves to support Holy Angels Athletics as well as the Permanently Disabled Jockey’s Fund. It was canceled the past two years due to COVID.

Alice Marble Returns To Dirt In Sunday’s Spring Fever

Alice Marble ahead of her Wishing Well win (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)

Alice Marble, a multiple stakes winner on turf for trainer Phil D’Amato, will run on dirt for the first time in 14 months in Sunday’s $100,000 Spring Fever for California-breds going six furlongs.

Last year as a 5-year-old, Alice Marble won both the Wishing Well Stakes and Fran’s Valentine and was a close-up second in the Grade II Monrovia, all on grass. In her seasonal bow here on Jan. 7, the Grazen homebred for Nick Alexander finished third as the favorite under Flavien Prat in the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course.

Prior to her rise to the stakes ranks, Alice Marble went 3-for-3 on dirt, all against state-breds and twice with Prat in the irons. D’Amato noted the decision to run her in the Spring Fever, rather than defend her title in the Wishing Well on Saturday, was partially guided by input from Prat.

“Flavien’s been breezing her. He thought she travels very well on dirt, and this might be the play rather than run here in the grass race,” D’Amato said.

Alice Marble, who does her best work when forwardly placed, drew the rail for her return to dirt. She has a pair of speed horses directly to her outside in Doris Mae and Chancery Way.

“The rail isn’t ideal, but she’s a filly that is very tactical out of the gate,” D’Amato said. “I don’t think it’s going to affect her too much. She should be in a nice spot sitting behind Doris Mae and Chancery Way.”

The Spring Fever goes as the fourth race on Sunday with an approximate post time of 1:59 p.m.

Coast-To-Coast Pick 5 Returns Saturday

The $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 featuring races from Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park returns Saturday. The sequence begins at 1:29 PT with the third race from Santa Anita, a maiden special weight for California-breds going 6 ½ furlongs on turf. The wager also includes the fourth and fifth races from Santa Anita and races 10 and 11 from Gulfstream Park. The 11th race from Gulfstream is the $150,000 Royal Delta Stakes for older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

The Coast-To-Coast Pick 5 features a player-friendly 15 percent takeout rate. Last Sunday’s wager returned $3,524.60 for 53 winning tickets.

FINISH LINES

Santa Anita will offera special President’s Day card on Monday featuring $1 beer and sodas and $2 hot dogs for on-track patrons…

Santa Anita will conduct live racing on Friday, Feb. 24, which was originally scheduled to be a dark day.  First post time will be at 12:30 p.m. The card has been added as a makeup for weather-related cancellations earlier in the Classic Meet…

Veteran agent Tony Matos reports that he and jockey Umberto Rispoli will be parting company effective March 5…

Every Friday during the Classic Meet on-track patrons will receive free admission, free parking and drink specials that include $3 beers and $5 margaritasThe Corgi Winter Nationals, which were postponed last month due to rain, will be held at Santa Anita on Sunday…Horseplayer and equine scout Larry Zap will be Tom Quigley’s featured handicapping guest Saturday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 11:20.

Great article by @Pastthewire

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