Santa Anita 02/20/2019 by Hunter Ulwelling (@hunterandhorses)
Race 1- 1st #1 Vantastic’s been close to winning and has been on the board, and not losing by much his last couple races, he seems to appreciate the turf which is a bonus also.
2nd #3 Onthewaytonevrland (IRE) broke his maiden in December at Gulfstream and it was a very good race. He earned an 80 Beyer which is solid for a maiden breaking race.
3rd #2 Urban Light (IRE) hasn’t ran in six months and this will be his US debut so I am very curious to see how he is going to handle it. I think he will do well as he is experienced on the turf as well.
Race 2- 1st #5 Sword Fighter is coming down in class, so let’s try him. The blinkers are also coming off, and he’s going from a $35K price tag down to $14K. He hasn’t won in a year and his most recent race he lost by ten lengths.
2nd #6 Papa Turf was just claimed last out, and for his age, this fella is still holding pretty strong with Beyer numbers and running patterns. Lost to Stringent last out which is back in here this time.
3rd #2 Stringent won last out in what was a good race. All three of his races within the past six months have been really well, (no worse than second) and he loves the Santa Anita track.
Race 3- 1st #4 Iron Curtain seeks to make his twelfth race the maiden breaking victory. He’s had almost three months off, and is dipping down in class just a little bit. He has three second place finishes and a third place out of five starts on the SA track.
2nd #7 Captain N. Barron has three second place finishes in a row and all were by no less than a neck. This is race number seventeen for this boy.
3rd #3 Getaloadofthis should be good here, he didn’t seem to like the turf two back so I am going to toss that race out and stick him here for third.
I handicapped the wrong card earlier and sadly I don’t have time to redo the whole thing so I am just going to throw the stakes races down here….
Race 7- 1st #1 Apache Princess has been showing success lately with two wins in a row. She’s by Unusual Heat, out of an Indian Charlie mare.
2nd #2 Thriving is a little hard for me to take on top just with her race two back, she ran 12th by twenty-sixth lengths, and last out was obviously much better, but she just needs a little more convincing for me to take her on top.
3rd #6 Ginger Nut has never raced in the US, but she’s now trained by John Sadler. Her last four races in Great Britain were outstanding, and I can’t wait to see how she does here.
Race 8- 1st #2 Coliseum didn’t run well last out, and I think it’s because he broke bad. Now he’s coming back to redeem himself and hopefully we can see the same kind of performance as his maiden breaker.
2nd #3 Dessman meant business when he ran out and absolutely smoked the field. He was a $750,000 purchase, and is trained by Bob Baffert, just like Coliseum.
3rd #4 Sparky Ville just didn’t fire last out. Now he has a different jockey so we will see if that can make a difference.