Santa Anita

With Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief) off to the breeding shed to stand alongside his superstar sire at Spendthrift Farm, how do you follow up on a 2020 season that included wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic? For Michael Behrens's budding MyRacehorse microshare partnership and B. Wayne Hughes's Spendthrift Farm, having a promising filly on the GI Kentucky Oaks trail is certainly a good place to begin. Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a visually impressive maiden winner for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella in...

Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit (Protonico) set a searching early pace in Saturday's GIII Robert B. Lewis S. over a Santa Anita main track that yielded below-par times in the aftermath of storms that dropped as much as 2 1/2 inches of rain in and around Arcadia. He was there for the taking in the final eighth of a mile, but the Florida-bred dug in doggedly to take a three-way photo from Roman Centurian (Empire Maker) and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow). "That reminded me a...

Hall of Famer Bob Baffert will have two shots at adding to his growing record with a potential ninth win in Saturday's GIII Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita. The improving $1-million Keeneland September graduate Spielberg (Union Rags), MGISP as a juvenile, posted a hard-fought, breakthrough nose victory in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity last time Dec. 19. The runner-up that day The Great One (Nyquist), meanwhile, returned with a flashy, 14-length maiden victory for trainer Doug O'Neill last weekend, good for a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. Baffert will...

With strong rains predicted to hit Southern California over the next several days, Santa Anita Park has made the decision to cancel its Friday card.  Friday's entries were originally scheduled to close this past Sunday, but track management opted to wait until Tuesday in order to better evaluate the weather forecast. In addition to Friday's cancellation, given the amount of rain predicted over the next few days, two turf stakes, the GII San Marcos set for Saturday and the Baffle S. scheduled for Sunday, will now be shifted to next...

Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux suffered fractures in his back when going down in a spill in Saturday's fifth race at Santa Anita. In a post on his Facebook page, Desormeaux said the spill caused a "couple little bone cracks" in his back, but that he will not need surgery. Desormeaux added that his doctor "says it's completely a pain management situation." The 50-year-old three-time Eclipse Award-winning rider was aboard Scat's Choice (Scat Daddy) for trainer Vann Belvoir in the $25,000 claiming event when the 3-year-old filly broke down,...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency INTRIGUING GROUP OF COLTS DEBUT ON PEGASUS UNDERCARD 6th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 2:04 p.m. This salty Pegasus World Cup day maiden special is littered with firsters with big pedigrees and big price tags, including a half-brother to undefeated Triple Crown hero Justify (Scat Daddy) named STAGE RAIDER (Pioneerof the Nile). After RNAing for $950,000 at KEESEP, the bay will carry the colors of breeder John Gunther and will be saddled by Chad Brown. In addition to Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male...

The California racing circuit lost one of its most charismatic, storied and successful training institutions and purveyors of good old-fashioned horsemanship when Bruce Headley passed away Friday at the age of 86, his family confirmed. Earlier this week, Headley, whose health has been failing for a number of years, suffered bleeding to the brain, complications from which he eventually succumbed. Few individuals have left such an indelible impression on the racing industry in the state--fewer still can boast such a steep climb within the sport from such relative obscurity. Headley...

Concert Tour (c, 3, Street Sense--Purse Strings, by Tapit) rolled home to an ultra-impressive debut score for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for 'TDN Rising Star' honors at Santa Anita Friday. The Gary and Mary West homebred's worktab included a six-furlong bullet in 1:13 (1/11) in Arcadia Jan. 1 and was backed accordingly as the the even-money favorite while debuting with blinkers and Lasix. He sat a looming presence in second in the early stages and tugged his way to the front under an absolute hammer lock three furlongs from...

Last year when facing a massive budget shortfall, the umbrella organization overseeing the fate of California's retired racehorses dodged a metaphorical projectile. "We were just so overwhelmed by the support we got for CARMAthon by the racing community," Lucinda Lovitt, executive director of the California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), said of a fundraising event held last year at Del Mar on Pacific Classic day. "Everybody on the board--especially those on the event committee--was blown away." Due to the fact that CARMA is primarily funded from purse contributions by owners, trainers...

He has yet to race, but Q B One (Uncle Mo) has already been the subject of several stories and a video feature from XBTV. That's the way it is when your dam is one of the best horses of her era. Now, the story of Q B One is about to heat up even further. After the 3-year-old colt worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 Jan. 8 at Santa Anita, trainer Richard Mandella said that Q B One was "a couple of weeks from starting." He will start for her...

Facing a reported $2-million budget deficit, the Southern California Stabling & Vanning Racing Committee has performed a fiscal juggling act to maintain the stabling status-quo in the southern portion of the state during 2021, with year-round auxiliary stabling assured for the year at Los Alamitos and San Luis Rey Downs, while off-site training will continue at Santa Anita during the Los Alamitos Thoroughbred and Del Mar Fall meets. Last year, the program--funded in equal parts by the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) purse account and the Southern California racetracks--cost approximately...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-Gulfstream, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, post time: 1:05 p.m. ET One week after 'TDN Rising Star' Mutasaabeq made a victorious sophomore debut in the Mucho Macho Man S., Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell Stable is set to be represented by another son of Into Mischief in the form of first-time starter LAMUTANAATTY. Pegged as the 7-2 second choice on the morning line, the $177K Fasig-Tipton November weanling turned $700K Keeneland September yearling is out of a winning daughter of MSW Win's Fair Lady (Dehere), a full-sister to...