Everyone's favorite horse is back at the age of eight with California Flag a contender in today's $100,000 San Simeon (Grade III).
The fort night to the Kentucky Derby begins on the penultimate day of racing for Santa Anita’s winter/spring meet where a pair of graded handicaps on turf are featured with males coming down the hill in the $100,000 San Simeon (Grade III) and females trekking 1 ¼-miles in the $150,000 Santa Barbara (Grade II).
With wins in both his tries down the hill and a runner-up effort behind Mr. Commons going a mile in the Sir Beaufort (Grade II), Irish Art is the 5-to-2 favorite for Carla Gaines with leading rider Joel Rosario. Toss his debut and try at 1 ¼-miles in the Hollywood Derby (Grade I), and the four-year-old son of Artie Schiller has finished no worse than second in his other seven tries on turf.
Salty hill pros will look to deny the favorite, as 3-to-1 second choice Compari tries for his third win from four tries over the layout and turf sprint champion of 2009 California Flag makes his eight-year-old debut as the 7-to-2 third choice having won four of six times coming down the hill.
Back to firm ground under impeccable weather conditions for five of the seven ladies in the Santa Barbara that exit the Sana Ana (Grade II) on March 25 that was run under a deluge over what was listed as a good turf course.
Looking to snap a seven-race winless streak that dates back to August of 2010 and includes a pair of defeats as the favorite in both local starts, Camelia Rose is 2-to-1 with Rosario getting the nod aboard the morning line chalk again. In two tries at this distance in her native France, the four-year-old daughter of Oratorio finished fifth beaten just over a length in Group company.
With Mike Smith in the irons for the first time, Vamo a Galupiar gobbled up the soft going late to win for the fifth time in eight career starts in the aforementioned Santa Ana and is the 5-to-2 second choice with Mr. 5,000 back aboard.
Another pair of late runners round out the top contenders with 3-to-1 third choice Cambina looking to get back on track with Rafael Bejarano up for the first time and 9-to-2 fourth choice Bauble Queen making her second start off the layoff.
Mr. Bob Baffert is busy once again with three-year-olds shipping out of town as favorites in $200,000 stakes, sending Castaway at 3-to-1 in the Coolmore Lexington (Grade III) at Keeneland and Stirred Up at 2-to-1 along with 4-to-1 shot Brigand in the Jerome (Grade II) at Aqueduct.
Martin Garcia makes the trip to the Big Apple to ride Stirred Up.
We’re off to the races!
Pick 4 -
Leg 1 – Race 7 (4,5,6,8,9,11) – A competitive mile affair on the turf for $25,000 claimers and we spread six deep with No. 4 Lamm, No. 5 Jairzihno, No. 6 J P Jammer, No. 8 Honour Family, No. 9 Let’s Do It and No. 11 Dress Code.
Leg 2 – Race 8 (2,4,6) – There’s other early speed signed on, but if No. 6 Flightofalifetime is allowed to roll early he can run them off their feet. Otherwise, No. 4 Close to the Edge could fall into the perfect trip just off the speed or No. 2 Industry Leader can run them all down.
Leg 3 – Race 9 (5,6,7) – Three of the top four choices in the Santa Barbara with No. 5 Vamo a Galupiar, No. 6 Bauble Queen and No. 7 Camelia Rose.
Leg 4 – Race 10 (3,5,8,9,11) – Another spread to close with bottom-level maiden claimers using No. 3 Tiz Savy, No. 5 Oak Tree Drive, No. 8 Salty Robin, No. 9 Emerald Assets and No. 11 Father Pabst.
Recap – (4,5,6,8,9,11) w (2,4,6) w (5,6,7) w (3,5,8,9,11) – Total cost of ticket = $135
Yesterday’s Result – (+$96.65)
Total for current Santa Anita winter/spring meet – (-$2,819.95)
Total from 12/26/10-12/18/11 – (+$3,512.05)
Pick 5 –
Leg 1 – Race 1 (1,3,4,5) – A four-pack down the hill to start a solid Saturday card with No. 1 Deadly Catch, No. 3 Striking Spirit, No. 4 Gallant Gent and No. 5 Circle Drive.
Leg 2 – Race 2 (1,5) – A short field, but lots of early zip so we’ll look for No. 1 Special Kid to win from just off the pace.
No. 5 Ultimate Decision drops out of a pair of races against much tougher and must be used at a short price.
Leg 3 – Race 3 (1,3,4,7) – The trio of runners with experience down the hill have the advantage with No. 1 Lake Maracaibo, No. 3 Swingaway and No. 4 Comin Easy, and No. 7 Smooth as Usual is dangerous on the lead in a race without much early zip.
Leg 4 – Race 4 (1,3) – The two best horses get the best riders so either No. 1 Baron Von Red or No. 3 Put It There should win.
Leg 5 – Race 5 (2,5,6,7,8) – We’ll spread in the San Simeon with No. 2 Gallant Son, No. 5 Compari, No. 6 California Flag, No. 7 Irish Art and No. 8 Ain’t No Other.
Recap – (1,3,4,5) w (1,5) w (1,3,4,7) w (1,3) w (2,5,6,7,8) – Total cost of ticket = $160
Yesterday’s Result – (+$1,369.30)
Total for current Santa Anita winter/spring meet – (-$62.95)
Total from 7/20/10-12/18/11 (+$1,513.90)
Best Bet of the Day (ROI based off $2 WPS bet)
Race 6 – #7 Designer (9/5 ML) – The only runner with experience after just getting run down to miss by a nose in his debut, he should be long gone at a short price here. A Pick-6 single along with the rolling Pick-3’s and a key on top of the superfecta.
Yesterday’s Result – Got all the money with Reach a Decision (+$2.30)
Total for current Santa Anita winter/spring meet – (-$133.20)
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Good luck!
