Steve Specht & Frank Alvarado Celebrate Grand Slam Smile’s Win In The Golden State Juvenile Fillies Stakes. (Benoit Photo)
> Turf Classic: Kings River Knight Looms Large For Sadler
> Coast-To-Coast Pick 5 Returns Saturday At 1:35 P.M. Pt
> Van Dyke Returns To The Saddle With 2 Mounts Sunday
> Special Holiday Card Monday Includes $1 Beer And Soda
Santa Anita Stable Notes By Victor Ryan
Veteran Northern California-based trainer Steve Specht has made his way south with a strong five-horse contingent that includes two favorites for Saturday’s California Cup program.
Specht’s quintet is entered in four of the five stakes on Santa Anita’s nine-race card. In the $200,000 California Cup Derby at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, Wild Jewels, a multiple stakes winner on Tapeta at Golden Gate, is listed as the 9-5 betting choice. In the $200,000 California Cup Oaks at one mile on turf, Grand Slam Smile is the 5-2 program favorite in a nine-horse field. Grand Slam Smile two starts back was a romping 7 ½-length winner when going seven furlongs on dirt here in the Golden State Juvenile on Nov. 3.
Specht’s other runners Saturday are Passarando (15-1) and Royal ‘n Rando (20-1) in the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic and Tam’s Little Angel (12-1) in the Sunshine Filly & Mare Sprint on the hillside turf course. All five are homebreds for Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Williams.
Specht made the pilgrimage to Santa Anita with the group from Golden Gate on Wednesday. It was not the smoothest of trips. The veteran trainer said they got stuck in frigid temperatures at the Grapevine on Interstate 5 due to an accident.
“We got here eventually. Everyone seems to have settled in nicely,” Specht said.
Grand Slam Smile will be trying turf and two turns for the first time in the Oaks. By Smiling Tiger, Grand Slam Smile has three wins in five starts with two stakes victories. Most recently, she was second as the odds-on favorite when trying Tapeta in the six-furlong Golden Gate Debutante Nov. 25.
Grand Slam Smile, who will have regular rider Frank Alvarado aboard, has two bullet works at Golden Gate heading into the Oaks.
“She’s training great,” said Specht, 74, who has 1,545 career wins and purse earnings of more than $29.8 million. “This is a 3-year-old filly stakes, so we thought we’d take a shot on the turf. I maybe should have put her in the Derby with the boys. She’s better than the colt (Wild Jewels) I have in there. If she can handle the turf, she’ll be tough to beat. She doesn’t seem like the type that needs to carry the track around with her.”
Wild Jewels enters with a three-race win streak at Golden Gate, all on Tapeta. which includes the six-furlong Golden Nugget and one-mile Gold Rush most recently Dec. 2. Prior to his current win streak, the Tamarando gelding broke his maiden and was stakes-placed on dirt at Pleasanton.
“He’s not as good as (Grand Slam Smile), but you can’t knock his record. I think he’ll run well,” Specht said of Wild Jewels. “
Wild Jewels will break from the outside in post five with Alvarado up.
The Cal Cup Derby and Oaks go as the fourth and fifth races, respectively.
The field for the Cal Cup Derby
1 Last Call London, Juan Hernandez (2-1)
2 Mici’s Express, Umberto Rispoli (3-1)
3 Stolen Treasure, Mario Gutierrez (3-1)
4 Gentleman’s Club, Diego Herrera (12-1)
5 Wild Jewels, Frank Alvarado (9-5)
The field for the Oaks
Post time for the Oaks is approximately 2:30 p.m. PT.1 Petit Filet, Kazushi Kimura (8-1)
2 Pracningthruparis, Antonio Fresu (8-1)
3 R Sweet Candy, Luis Jimenez Aburto (12-1)
4 Asada Fries, Juan Hernandez (4-1)
5 Sushi Sticks, Flavien Prat (3-1)
6 Recalcitrant, Frankie Dettori (15-1)
7 Madison Rae, Joel Rosario (5-1)
8 Putt for Dough, Mario Gutierrez (20-1)
9 Grand Slam Smile, Frank Alvarado (5-2)
Turf Classic: Kings River Knight Looms Large For Sadler
Closing out California Cup Day at Santa Anita is the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles, which goes as the ninth race at approximately 4:30 p.m. PT. Among the notable entrants in a 10-horse field are Kings River Knight, the 6-5 favorite for trainer John Sadler, and 2022 Turf Classic winner Aligato (6-1) for trainer Mark Glatt.
Kings River Knight kicks off his 6-year-old campaign following an ultra-productive 2023 season for the Acclamation gelding. Last year, Kings River Knight won four California-bred stakes in seven starts and banked $281,750 for owner The Ellwood Johnston Trust, Integrity Thoroughbred Racing and Kenneth A. Tevelde.
Kings River Knight most recently won the Oct. 15 California Flag Handicap sprinting on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.
“He was a solid horse in the Cal-bred program all last season and I think he’ll be strong again this season,” Sadler said Friday. “Dirt, turf, short, long. Among California-breds, he’s one of the toughest out there outside of The Chosen Vron.”
King River Knight’s only prior start at 1 1/8 miles came in last year’s Turf Classic when he finished fourth while with trainer Andy Mathis. He will be ridden Saturday by Juan Hernandez, who was aboard for all four stakes wins last year.
Aligato is back for a third time in the Turf Classic. After winning the race in 2022, he returned last year and was beaten just a neck when second to Coalinga Road. The now 7-year-old gelding by Kitten’s Joy in 2023 finished second or third in all seven of his starts. Most recently, Aligato was a close-up second in a second-level allowance for open company at a mile on turf at Del Mar Dec. 3.
“He ran really good in a lot of those race last year and has won this race in the past,” Glatt said Friday morning. “He was an unlucky second last year. With a little better trip he would have won.”
Aligato breaks from post seven. He’ll be reunited with top jockey Flavien Prat, who piloted Aligato to victory in the 2022 Turf Classic.
“This isn’t an easy race,” Glatt said. “Kings River Knight in particular. But he’s coming into this really, really well. I’d say he has a really good shot to win.”
The field for the Unusual Heat Turf Classic
1 None Above the Law, Joel Rosario (8-1)
2 Carmelita’s Man, Tiago Pereira (5-1)
3 Bally’s Charm, Hector Berrios (4-1)
4 Mogolion Rim, Armando Ayuso (20-1)
5 Kings River Knight, Juan Hernandez (6-5)
6 Silent Heat, Antonio Fresu (20-1)
7 Aligato, Flavien Prat (6-1)
8 Passarando, Frankie Dettori (15-1)
9 Catalina Eddy, Kazushi Kimura (20-1)
10 Royal ‘n Rando, Frank Alvarado (20-1)
Coast-To-Coast Pick 5 Returns Saturday From Santa Anita, Gulfstream
The $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 with player-friendly 15 percent takeout returns this Saturday. The wager, which combines races from Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park, kicks off at 1:35 p.m. PT with the 10th race from Gulfstream.
Saturday’s sequence averages 8.8 starters per race before scratches. The opener from Gulfstream is a 6 ½-furlong allowance/optional claimer on dirt with seven entered. It is followed by the 11th race at Gulfstream, an allowance/optional claimer going five furlongs on turf which attracted a full field of 12 with one also eligible.
Santa Anita joins the party with its fifth race, the California Cup Oaks at a mile on turf. It has a field of nine entered led by 5-2 morning line favorite Grand Slam Smile for trainer Steve Specht. The sequence finishes with the sixth race from Santa Anita, an allowance/optional claimer at 6 ½ furlongs on dirt, and the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf Sprint, which goes as the seventh at 3:30 p.m. PT.
The Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 is offered every Saturday and Sunday through the end of the Santa Anita Classic Meet April 7.
FINISH LINES__________________________
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who has not ridden since Oct. 6 at Santa Anita, returns to action with two mounts on Sunday. Both rides are for Bob Baffert. The 29-year-old reinsman will be aboard Apple Fest in the third race, a maiden special weight going 6 ½ furlongs on turf; and Fast and Shiny in the featured GIII Las Cienegas on the hillside turf course…
Daily Racing Form’s Brad Free will be host Tom Quigley’s handicapping guest Saturday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 11:20 a.m.…
Santa Anita will host a special Martin Luther King Jr. holiday card Monday. On-track fans will receive $1 beers and sodas and $2 hot dogs.
