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SANTA ANITA STABLE NOTES

BY

ED GOLDEN

Sunday March 13, 2016

                 Danzing Candy                            (Benoit Photo)

• ‘CANDY’ IS SWEET, ‘SPIRIT’ IS GOOD ON DERBY TRAIL
• SANTA ANITA HANDICAP VICTORY WAS TEAM EFFORT
• WHAT A VIEW LOOKS GOOD AFTER KILROE TRIUMPH

REMATCH LOOMS IN SANTA ANITA DERBY

If all goes well, it’s on to the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 9 and a rematch between Danzing Candy and Mor Spirit, the one-two finishers in Saturday’s San Felipe Stakes.

Both three-year-olds came out of the race in good order and are in line for the Grade I Santa Anita Derby, won by I’ll Have Another in 2012 and California Chrome in 2014. Both went on to capture the Kentucky Derby.

Danzing Candy led virtually throughout the mile and a sixteenth San Felipe under Mike Smith, winning by two lengths over 8-5 favorite Mor Spirit with Gary Stevens aboard.

“I wasn’t surprised he was on the lead,” said Cliff Sise Jr., trainer of Danzing Candy, who earned 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his third win in a row and his first stakes.

“We weren’t about to change his style. The only way he wouldn’t have been in front would have been if somebody else was sent hard. We didn’t want to experiment in that race.”

Should Danzing Candy make to the Kentucky Derby on May 7, it would mark the first starter for Sise in the Run for the Roses.

“We were...

If you are wagering tonight at Sunland Park, we thought our IdaBet.com players would want to know of some recent program changes on the race card.

PROGRAM CHANGES March 13, 2016

Weather: Sunny 76

Post: 1:30 MST Track: Fast

Race 1 – # 2 Juan Carlos Rivas, Scratch # 11, Scratch # 12

Race 2 – Scratch # 9, Scratch # 10

Race 3 – NO Changes

Race 4 – Scratch # 4, Scratch # 8, # 9 Larry Gamez, # 10 + 2, Scratch # 12

Race 5 – Scratch # 5

Race 6 – # 2 + 1, # 5 + 2, # 6 Francisco Duran, Scratch # 7, # 12 + 1

Race 7 – Scratch # 1,

Race 8 – # 1 + 1, # 10 + 5

Race 9 – Scratch # 10 Carryovers: PK 6 $2931.85

Hey IdaBet.com players, in a massive upset, 71-1 longshot Generosidade flew late to take Sunday’s Grade II, $200,000 San Luis Rey Stakes under Tiago Pereira by 1 ½ lengths while covering a mile and one half on a turf course listed as “good” in 2:28.80.  Trained by Paulo Lobo, Uruguayan-bred Generosidade made her third stateside start today.

“I was so excited because this is my (second) graded win in North America,” said an ebullient Pereira, who like Lobo, is a Brazilian native.  “Generosidade was so good today.  We sat behind, we let the pace go and the last three eighths, I was able to get outside and get up to win it.

“Paulo told me to relax the first part of the race in the other three times I rode her (three) because she liked to do that when she ran in Brazil.  But, in the three races she’s run here, they were not so good…Her last work was good and today she was too good for them.”

The longest shot in a field of 10 older horses that included four females, Generosidade paid $144.80, $45.60 and $17.60.

Owned by her breeder, Haras Phillipson, Inc., Generosidade got her fifth win from 16 lifetime starts and with the winner’s share of $120,000, increased her earnings to $206,894.

“She’s a marathon horse,” said Lobo.  “She loves the distance and we were looking for a mile and a half.  She had her (recent) race (finishing sixth in the 1 ½ miles turf Astra Stakes here on Jan. 17).  I think the rain helped me because she’s seven years old.  She has issues, little problems, and the softer ground helped her.

Trained by Ron McAnally and ridden by Tyler Baze, Chilean-bred Quick Casablanca rallied boldly from far back to be second, finishing a neck in front of Brazilian-bred Energia Fribby.  Off at 10-1, Quick Casablanca paid $11.00 and $5.60.

“I tried to thread the needle (at the top of the lane) and a horse stopped in front of me,” said Baze.  “The horse is on the top of...

We want our IdaBet.com players to know in what appeared to be a case of no one wanting the early lead, California-bred What a View fell into a perfect front-running trip under Kent Desormeaux, as the 5-year-old gelding took Saturday’s Grade I, $400,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile (turf) by 3 ¾ lengths thus providing former rider and current trainer Kenny Black with his first-ever Grade I victory.  Over a course listed as “good” due to heavy rains on Friday, What a View covered the mile distance in 1:35.57.

“Well, from the ‘View’ I had, everyone was going for the lead and this guy loves that,” said Desormeaux.  “I thought that if they all wanted to come at him, then he’d run them into the ground and I wanted to try and win the race that way.

“The time is incredible because the turf has a tremendous amount of give…For him to put that number up on the clock, he’s a real racehorse.”

A winner of the California Cup Turf Classic versus state-breds here on Jan. 30, What a View, was off at 6-1 in a field of six older horses and paid $14.00, $5.80 and $3.40.

“We’ve had some issues with his feet and I just wanted to keep him on the grass,” said Black.  “There were some really tough horses in here:  Bolo, Bal a Bali and Om, so I knew we were going to have to run big to win.”

Bred by Old English Rancho and Patsy and Sal Berumen, What a View is owned by Sal Berumen, Robert Riggio and the Elwood Johnston Trust and partners.  With his first graded stakes win, What a View picked up $240,000, increasing his earnings to $532,148.  He now has five wins from 11 overall starts.

Ridden by Mike Smith, favored Bolo ranged four-wide turning for home but never threatened the winner, finishing second, a nose in front of Bal a Bali.

Off at 2-1, Bolo paid $3.80 and $2.80.

“I think anybody that was going to lay close to (the winner) was just going to shoot themselves in the foot,” said Smith when...

We thought you – our valued IdaBet.com players would want to know on his first-ever try in graded stakes competition on the main track, longshot Melatonin made it look easy in taking Saturday’s 79^th running of the Grade I, $1 million Santa Anita Handicap presented by San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in gate to wire fashion under Joe Talamo.  Owned by Tarabilla Farms and trained by David Hofmans, the 5-year-old gelding by Kodiak Kowboy won the Big ’Cap by 4 ¼ lengths while covering the mile and a quarter distance in 2:02.01.

Fresh off a 3 ¾ length allowance win going a mile and a sixteenth on Feb. 5, Talamo and his agent, Scott McClellan, lobbied forcefully for a chance to try the deep waters of “The Granddaddy of Them All” on Saturday.

“Joe was instrumental in running in this race,” said Hofmans, who, along with Talamo, won his first career Big ’Cap.  “Joe and his agent were insistent that we go.  After his last race, he said we have to run here.  Joe was convinced after his last race.  He said he loves this track, he’s so strong and he had so much horse left, I think he wants to run even farther, and I was convinced he was a miler.

“I breezed him seven eighths the other day with Joe and was convinced to go here.  Without California Chrome (who is committed to run later in the month in the Dubai World Cup), it opened up.  We expected to be on the lead.”

Off at 16-1, Melatonin paid $34.60, $13.80 and $6.00.  The Big ’Cap represented his fourth win from 11 career starts and with the winner’s share of $600,000, he increased his earnings to $768,552.

“What a tremendous effort,” said Talamo.  “I think I need some Melatonin right now to calm down from it…We had a great trip and he broke real sharp.  I just put him up there and fortunately he was going so easily.  When I got to the first turn, they backed off him a bit so I was able to give him a breather and he...

Thanks for checking in with IdaBet.com’s Player News Blog…we wanted you to know that positioned last with a quarter mile to run, Kobe’s Back came rolling through the lane to take Saturday’s Grade II, $300,000 San Carlos Stakes by 1 ¼ lengths under Gary Stevens.  Owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable and trained by Peter Eurton, favored Kobe’s Back covered the seven furlong San Carlos in 1:22.20.

Saturday’s win by the 5-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Flatter followed another last to first thriller in the Grade II, six furlong Palos Verdes Stakes on Feb. 7 and thus represented his first back-to-back stakes triumph in his 18^th overall start.

“It’s the best he’s ever broken (from the starting gate),” said Stevens.  I’ve been aboard him in a couple of workouts in the mornings before his last race and again last week, and there have been a few times that he’s wanted to go after horses in front of him and I’ve let him.  What I found out is that he’s not only a great stretch runner, but he’s a good turn runner.

“And that wasn’t the case last year.  With a little time off and the addition of blinkers, it’s made him a lot more focused…I knew at the half mile pole that they were all in deep water and that’s a pretty good feeling.”

Breaking from the far outside in a field of eight older horses, Kobe’s back was off at 2-1 and paid $6.00, $3.60 and $2.60.  With the winner’s share of $180,000, he increased his earnings to $952,250.

“Did you see how he came out of the gate?” said Eurton.  “He broke too fresh, and that was good.  He’s just good right now.  He’s the best he’s been in so long.  Gary hustled him a little bit and then he kind of let him fall back.  He’ll probably run next at Churchill Downs on Derby Day (May 7, in the Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs).”

Ridden by Tyler Baze, Coastline rallied gamely for the place,...