Horse racing notes: Hang the Moon can bounce back at Santa Anita
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LEADERS
Unofficial totals for Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets, Dec. 26, 2023-Dec. 15, 2024
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 189
Antonio Fresu / 154
Umberto Rispoli / 117
Kyle Frey / 90
Hector Berrios / 87
Edwin Maldonado / 75
Tiago Pereira / 70
Kazushi Kimura / 54
Flavien Prat / 53
Tyler Baze / 45
Trainers / Wins
Phil D’Amato / 97
Doug O’Neill / 92
Bob Baffert / 88
Mark Glatt / 83
Steve Knapp / 60
John Sadler / 59
Peter Miller / 55
George Papaprodromou / 52
Michael McCarthy / 53
Jeff Mullins / 47
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Friday
• $100,000, Grade III Robert J. Frankel Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1⅛ miles (turf)
Saturday
• $200,000, Grade II Joe Hernandez Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, about 6½ furlongs (turf)
• $100,000 Blue Norther Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile (turf)
Sunday
• $100,000 Eddie Logan Stakes, 2-year-olds, 1 mile (turf)
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $25,000 Holiday Handicap, 2-year-old quarter horses, 350 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Santa Anita’s opening-week stakes are loaded with horses dropping into attractive spots after defeats in Breeders’ Cup-weekend races in early November at Del Mar. Hang the Moon (Kazushi Kimura), 9-5 favorite in the Robert J. Frankel Stakes on Friday, won a pair of Grade II races before her overmatched 12th behind Moira in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Motorious (Antonio Fresu) goes into Saturday’s Joe Hernandez Stakes after a close second to Starlust in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, and Supa Speed (Flavien Prat) enters Saturday’s Blue Norther Stakes after an excusable 12th behind Chasing Liberty in the TAA Stakes on the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup undercard. And Artislas (Prat) goes into Sunday’s Eddie Logan after running eighth in the TAA.
• Juan Hernandez (189) and Phil D’Amato (97) had the most wins among jockeys and trainers, respectively, at the Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets over the past year, according to our unofficial math. See the top 10s above.
• After the failure of a Pleasanton meet left Northern California without a non-fair thoroughbred track, jockeys Frank Alvarado, William Antongeorgi III and Assael Espinoza plan to ride at Santa Anita. Antongeorgi and Espinoza had mounts Thursday, and Alvarado has one Friday.
• Stanley Cartel’s victory in the Southern California Derby at Los Alamitos on Sunday night capped the first quarter-horse championships at the Orange County track for jockey Armando Cervantes and trainer Monty Arrossa. Cervantes led the riders with 52 wins and $2.2 million in purses, and Arrossa led trainers with 68 wins and $3.7 million in purses at the yearlong meet. A new season begins at 6 p.m. Saturday.
• Baseball’s Walker Buehler and Alex Bregman are the new owners of March of Time, a Bob Baffert-trained 3-year-old returning from a 12-month layoff as a 3-5 favorite with jockey Juan Hernandez in a maiden sprint Friday at Santa Anita.
• Honors are planned at Santa Anita for late trainers Ben Cecil and Eddie Truman. The seventh race Saturday is named in memory of Cecil, who died at age 56 on Nov. 29 after fighting cancer. A memorial service for Truman, who died at 77 on Dec. 10, will be held at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 24 at Clockers’ Corner.
— Kevin Modesti