Santa Anita offers 58 stakes this winter with nine Grade 1s attached to the 72-day fan fest and the meeting will be followed by a shorter spring meeting. That meeting will go from April 14 to July 4 and it will continue to bring the quality to Southern California.
Santa Anita offers a classy stakes menu. On opening day December 26 the card will consist of four added-money events including the Grade 1 La Brea and the Grade 1 Malibu. The Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile will give turf performers a stage and fast sprinters get their chance in the Grade 3 San Simeon Handicap. That event will be run at about 6 and a half furlongs on the demanding hillside turf course.
The highlight that Santa Anita offers this meeting that will be one of the most pivotal preps for the Kentucky Derby, the $1 million Santa Anita Derby. It will go on April 8. The Santa Anita Handicap will be renewed for the 81st time on March 11 and runners will vie for the $750,000 prize.
The Malibu will bring together some of the fastest horses on the West Coast while the La Brea Stakes will give fillies at shot at glory.
The 7-furlong La Brea figures to lure Lightstream. She has some big shoes to fill. Some talented fillies have won the La Brea over the years. The brilliant Terlingua took the 1980 renewal of the fixture and in 1988 Very Subtle did the same thing and also won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Lightstream is trained by Brian Lynch and the filly has won four of her six efforts. She has earned nearly $500,000 and showed her class with a third in the Mother Goose at Belmont Park this summer. The filly is fresh from a clever victory in the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland on October 22. The fact that she won her racing debut gives her a chance to fire fresh in the La Brea. She has never run a poor race and she overcame a wide run in the last win. The concern about Lightstream is the fact she is speed challenged and things will need to break just right.
One thing Lightstream has going for her is that last year an invading closer won the La Brea. Birdatthewire was a troubled fourth in her prior race to the La Brea but she cut back from nine furlongs and shocked the field at 10-1. Any La Brea runner that gets the services of Gary Stevens must be respected. The Hall of Fame rider has won this race five times, the last in 2013 with Heir Kitty.
When scrutinizing the San Simeon Handicap bettors have to give a decided edge to runners that have run well on the hillside course. It is probably the most unique turf course in America and the fact of the matter is that not all horses take to the surface.
Santa Anita offers a ton of these hillside races throughout the meeting and to be successful in multiple vertical wagers, one must hone in on this action.
If Guns Loaded shows up for the San Simeon Handicap pay serious attention. The gelding is extremely versatile in that he can win from just off the pace and from left field. He was in tight in his last race in a division the Eddie D. Stakes and still managed to inch toward the winner late. Guns Loaded is a multiple winner on this hillside including a win in the San Simeon Handicap last year.
A couple of other runners will be hoping Guns Loaded misfires. Holy Lute has already beaten Guns Loaded in the Eddie D. and he was far from disgraced when sixth of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He has trained solidly since that defeat and he has the tactical speed that should be a plus.
Boozer is trained by Mark Glatt, who has been on quite a roll in 2016. Boozer has hit the exacta in 13 of his 28 starts and he showed he can handle the hillside when he took the $102,000 Sensational Star just under a year ago.
Granted, this is just a birds-eye view of the opportunities that Santa Anita offers early in the season. There are few cinches in this spot, but it’s a virtual cinch that the Santa Anita meeting will be an eye-opener for every racing fan.
Santa Anita Offers 58 Stakes This Winter
