Horse racing notes: California racing suffers new blow in decision on summer fairs

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Flavien Prat / 24

Juan Hernandez / 21

Umberto Rispoli / 15

Hector Berrios / 11

Edwin Maldonado / 10

Trainers / Wins

Mark Glatt / 12

Jeff Mullins / 10

Bob Baffert / 10

Doug O’Neill / 10

Philip D’ Amato / 7

George Papaprodromou / 7

UPCOMING STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $200,000, Grade II Santa Monica Stakes, fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, 7 furlongs

• $200,000, Grade III Robert B. Lewis Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile

• $100,000, Grade III Thunder Road Stakes, 4 and up, 1 mile on turf

• $100,000, Grade III Megahertz Stakes, fillies and mares, 4 and up, 1 mile on turf

Sunday

• $100,000, Grade III Las Virgenes Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile

DOWN THE STRETCH

• The state’s county-fair circuit may be history after the California Association of Racing Fairs decided Tuesday not to apply for summer 2025 dates at Pleasanton, Sacramento, Ferndale and Fresno. Any of those fairs can apply to the California Horse Racing Board for dates independently, as can Santa Rosa, which isn’t part of CARF. But the state may be left without thoroughbred racing north of the Los Angeles area. The implosion started when Golden Gate Fields, in the San Francisco Bay Area, was closed in June, and continued when Pleasanton, in the East Bay, failed in its attempt at a stand-alone meet in the fall. In the short run, this could mean more lower-tier horses and betting handle for Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos. In the long run, it further empties the state’s pool of northern breeders, owners and horsemen.

• Richard Mandella-trained Kopion (Antonio Fresu riding), the $77.40 winner of the La Brea Stakes on opening day, is 7-5 on the morning line for Saturday’s Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita against the Bob Baffert trio of 9-5 Richi (Hector Berrios), 2-1 Hope Road (Juan Hernandez) and 5-1 Splendora (Frankie Dettori). Baffert’s Tenma (Hernandez) should be odds-on in Sunday’s Las Virgenes. Fields number four, five, seven, nine and five for the weekend stakes.

• Jockey Kazushi Kimura was scheduled for surgery Thursday, Jan. 30, on a fractured left lower leg and is expected to miss another month, agent Brian Beach said. Kimura was fourth in the Santa Anita standings and led the track’s riders in stakes wins with three when he was injured in the starting gate Jan. 16.

• Mario Gutierrez is scheduled to return to riding Friday at Santa Anita. The two-time Kentucky Derby winner missed a day of racing after being hospitalized briefly following his fall with the fatally injured Dont Fight the Fed in the San Pasqual Stakes last Saturday.

• White Abarrio’s romp in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park on Saturday earned the 6-year-old the No. 1 ranking in the first National Thoroughbred Racing Association media poll of the year. Thorpedo Anna, the 2024 Horse of the Year, was No. 2. The rest of the top 10: Sierra Leone, Locked, Fierceness, Spirit of St Louis, Straight No Chaser, Skippylongstocking, Be Your Best, Hit Show.

• Adding to worries about Gulfstream’s future: 1/ST boss Belinda Stronach, in an interview on NBC’s Pegasus World Cup show, floated the idea that the Miami-area track’s “very dense, urban setting (is) not great for horses.” Californians remember a similar criticism was heard about Golden Gate Fields before 1/ST closed the San Francisco Bay Area track in June 2024.

• Express Train will run in the March 1 Santa Anita Handicap, trainer John Shirreffs said, after running a contentious second to Katonah in the San Pasqual, the closest the 8-year-old horse has come to winning in seven starts since his 2022 Big ’Cap victory.

• In Los Alamitos quarter-horse racing, Eddie Willis-trained Unrelentless and jockey Justine Klaiber posted the fastest time (400 yards in 19.691 seconds) in Sunday’s trials for the Feb. 16 Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship for 4-year-olds and up.

– Kevin Modesti