Sumter battles gamely down the stretch, Benoit Photo
Santa Anita Park Press
ARCADIA, CA —Veteran gelding Sumter bested eastern invader Quereme Pass by a nose to earn his first graded stakes victory Saturday in a thrilling edition of the Grade III, $100,000 San Simeon Stakes for older horses going about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.
Sumter (5-2), ridden by Mike Smith, ranged up to pacesetter Quereme Pass (9-1) on the dirt crossing and edged away from that rival at the top of the stretch. But Quereme Passs was not done yet. Quereme Pass gamely battled back under Emisael Jaramillo and raced side-by-side with Sumter before losing by the slimmest of margins. Finishing a fast-closing third by a head was Genius Jimmy (4-1) and jockey Juan Hernandez.
Sumter and Smith were getting re-acquainted in the San Simeon after being apart for two starts. In October at Santa Anita, Smith piloted Sumter to his only previous stakes win in the Lure Stakes going one mile on turf at Santa Anita.
“I found out a little something today,” Smith said of the winner. “When I opened up on him a little he kind of lost focus. At that point, I was hoping he would just hang on, but it all worked out.”
Sumter was making his third start at the Classic Meet. In the Dec. 29 GII Joe Hernandez on the hillside turf course, Sumter led in the stretch before being overtaken by Gas Me Up. Then in last month’s Clockers’ Corner going six furlongs on the oval turf course, Sumter was a never a factor and finished fourth as the odds-on favorite.
“It was disappointing he didn’t have a better finish the other day and I still don’t know why,” Mandella said. “But he came out of the race great, so I didn’t hesitate to come back. He ran his race today.”
Sumter improved to 32: 6-6-5 with nearly $590,000 in earnings.
“He loves that six and a half. That really is the key,” Smith said. “When you go five or six furlongs, it’s just a bit too short for him. The six and a half coming down the hill seems to be what he really loves. He will get a mile too, if the pace is right.”
Fractions for the race were 21.96, 44.28 and 1:06.65.
Sumter paid $7.80, $4.60 and $3.40. Quereme Pass returned $7.80 and $7.00. Genius Jimmy, trained by Michael McCarthy paid $4.00.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Santa Anita with a nine-race card starting at 1 p.m. PT.
GRADE III, SAN SIMEON STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
MIKE SMITH, SUMTER, WINNER: “He loves that six and a half. That really is the key. When you go five or six furlongs, it’s just a bit too short for him. The six and a half coming down the hill seems to be what he really loves. He will get a mile too, if the pace is right.
“I found out a little something today, when I opened up on him a little he kind of lost focus for a bit. At that point, I was hoping he would just hang on, but it all worked out.”
TRAINER QUOTES
RICHARD MANDELLA, SUMTER, WINNER: “He’s been running good. It was disappointing he didn’t have a better finish the other day and I still don’t know why. But he came out of the race great, so I didn’t hesitate to come back. He ran his race today.”
(ON SEAL TEAM, 6TH) “I thought he’d have a bigger finish. But the jockey said when he hit the dirt he just exited stage right. That was it. We were trying to get a race into him.”
NOTES: The winning owners/breeders are Ramona Bass and Perry Bass, II.
