Last Week at Santa Anita Park (Jan 28-31)

The race week began with fast, dry conditions and ended with a wet, speed favoring track (off the turf) on Sunday.

Thursday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 28

Fast main track and good turf course (turf rail at 20 feet). Early/pressing types dominated on dirt (5 wire jobs – 6.5f, 8f, 5.5f, 6f, 6f).  A downhill stalker and a 9f wire job made up the two turf winners.

Riding double for Joe Talamo. Vladimir Cerin saddled two winners.

Friday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 29

Fast main track and good turf course (turf rail at 30 feet). Early/pressing types dominated again on dirt (4 wire jobs – 9f, 8f, 7f, 5.5f).  A flat mile wire job and a downhill stalker made up the two turf winners.

Riding double for Flavien Prat.

Saturday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 30

Fast main track and good turf course. Early/pressing types strong again on dirt (4 wire jobs – 6f, 8.5f, 6f, 6f).  A downhill stalker, a flat mile presser, another downhill stalker, and a 9f presser made up the four turf winners.

Riding doubles for Kent Desormeaux (turf stakes) and apprentice David Lopez (6f dirt sprints). Phil D’Amato saddled two dirt sprint winners including Sunday Rules in the Cal Cup Sprint.

Sunday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 31 

Wet fast (sealed) main track and off the turf. Early/pressing types dominated on dirt (6 wire jobs – 8f, 8f, 8f, 6.5f, 6f, 6.5f).

Rafael Bejarano guided home three winners. Flavien Prat booted home a pair. Trainer David Jacobson saddled his first winner of the meet (Can Can Babe in the opener) and finished a close 2nd with Eighty Three in the 7th race.

Final Thoughts: Speed ruled at Santa Anita Park with 19 wire-to-wire winners on the main track. A couple of riding doubles for Flavien Prat made him the riding star of the week. 

If you are interested in full card analysis, I am selling Santa Anita full cards each weekend at The Runaway Horse. You can check out full card recaps with highlights on our What You Missed page.

I also post free daily tickets from Santa Anita Park at Pick 6 Blog. You can also read my recaps at Pick 6 Blog.  

Photos by Stacy Edwards.

Last Week at Santa Anita Park (Jan 22-24)

After a 5-day holiday week of live racing, the Great Race Place ran three days last week.

Friday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 22

Fast main track and good turf course (rail at 20 feet). Early/pressing types strong on dirt (3 wire jobs – 6f, 8f, 6f).  A patient runner at a flat mile and a downhill stalker made up the two turf winners.

Santiago Gonzalez and apprentice David Lopez (dirt sprints) both booted home a pair.

Saturday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 23

Fast main track and good turf course. Early/pressing types dominated on dirt (3 wire jobs – 7f, 6f, 8f).  A downhill wire job, a flat mile wire job (Silent Movies DQ’d, promoted winner stalked), and a late runner down the hill made up the three turf winners.

Tyler Baze, Agapito Delgadillo, and Flavien Prat (turf) each guided home two winners.Doug O’Neill and Gary Sherlock both saddled two winners and the latter struck with 17-1 longshot Karma King and 60-1 bomb Lost Bus in the G2 Santa Monica.

Sunday Santa Anita Park Recap: January 24

Fast main track and good turf course (turf rail at 30 feet). Early/pressing types strong on dirt (3 wire jobs – 6.5f, 8f, 6f).  A flat mile wire job and two downhill stalkers made up the three turf winners.

Tyler Baze guided home two winners, giving him back-to-back riding doubles to close out the race week.

Conclusion: Speed was king on the main track with 9 wire-to-wire winners (4 at 6f, 3 at 8f). Two riding doubles for Tyler Baze last week, Let's see if he can keep the momentum going!

If you are interested in full card analysis, I am selling Santa Anita full cards each weekend at The Runaway Horse. You can check out full card recaps with highlights on our What You Missed page.

I also post free daily tickets from Santa Anita Park at Pick 6 Blog. You can also read my recaps at Pick 6 Blog.  

Photos by Stacy Edwards.