Despite having to scratch defending champion and morning-line favorite Gift Box (Twirling Candy) due to filling in an ankle Saturday morning, trainer John Sadler and Hronis Racing still managed to score their third consecutive Big 'Cap victory with recent acquisition Combatant.
Campaigned for his first 22 starts by trainer Steve Asmussen, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing, Combatant hit the board in several preps for the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby before finishing 18th in the Run for the Roses. He tried turf with some success later that season, finishing a close third in the GII Mathis Brothers Mile behind River Boyne (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), who captured Saturday's GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile. Combatant belatedly cleared his first-level allowance condition on the dirt at Oaklawn last May, and won his '2x' in a rained-off Churchill heat Nov. 8.
Scooped up for $220,000 at Keeneland November with the help of agent David Ingordo–who also purchased these connections' 2019 GI Pacific Classic S. winner Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) for $250,000 at KEEAPR '19–Combatant was third last time in the GII San Pasqual S. behind Midcourt and Two Thirty Five (Stay Thirsty).
Traveling in midpack and out wide past the wire for the first time, Combatant continued on three deep down the backside behind six panels in 1:12.37. He was asked for a bit more from Joel Rosario into the second bend, and joined odds-on Midcourt as that one turned up the pressure on pacesetting Brown Storm (Chi) (Scat Daddy). Longshot Multiplier, meanwhile, bided his time at the fence and found a clear opening in upper stretch. Widest of all when they straightened, Combatant drifted out a bit in midstretch, but quickly righted the ship and kicked on to outstay his competition late.
“It's beautiful–it was nice to win and to win it for John,” said Rosario, who replaced Umberto Rispoli on Combatant after Gift Box scratched. “I feel sorry that my other horse scratched, but this was a nice thing to make up for that… He was in a good spot. It looked like they didn't go too fast–it was a good pace for us. He was very comfortable where he was, and I was happy with how he progressed.”
Sadler confirmed that Rispoli would be paid a double-jock mount in the amount of $36,000.
Saturday, Santa Anita
SANTA ANITA H.-GI, $601,000, Santa Anita, 3-7, 4yo/up,
1 1/4m, 2:02.32, ft.
1–COMBATANT, 118, r, 5, by Scat Daddy
1st Dam: Border Dispute, by Boundary
2nd Dam: Scads, by Forty Niner
3rd Dam: Slew and Easy, by Slew o' Gold
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
WIN. ($320,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP; $220,000 4yo '19 KEENOV).
O-Hronis Racing LLC; B-Paget Bloodstock (KY); T-John W.
Sadler; J-Joel Rosario. $360,000. Lifetime Record: 24-4-5-4,
$1,032,498. *1/2 to Bordini (Bernardini), SP, $276,395; 1/2 to
Long Lashes (Rock Hard Ten), GSW-Eng, SW-Ire, GSP-UAE,
$146,395. Werk Nick Rating: C+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Multiplier, 113, g, 6, The Factor–Trippi Street, by Trippi.
($62,000 Wlg '14 KEENOV; $220,000 RNA Ylg '15 KEESEP;
$120,000 RNA 2yo '16 OBSAPR). O-Wachtel Stable, George
J. Kerr & Gary Barber; B-Mark Stansell (KY); T-Peter Miller.
$120,000.
3–Midcourt, 123, g, 5, Midnight Lute–Mayo On the Side, by
French Deputy. ($450,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-C R K Stable LLC;
B-Dixiana Farms LLC (KY); T-John A. Shirreffs. $72,000.
Margins: NK, HF, 2 1/4. Odds: 9.60, 33.10, 0.70.
Also Ran: Brown Storm (Chi), Endorsed, Hofburg, Two Thirty Five. Scratched: Gift Box. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
“Obviously we wanted to run Gift Box,” Sadler said. “This horse we were considering somewhere else, but I put him in as an insurance policy. He trained really well and it looked like he had no distance limitations to me, so I thought it was a good chance to try him. He's got some pretty good races on his form. He won his last start at Churchill before he came out here. We put some blinkers on him, did some minor changes, and he has responded well… We are lucky enough to have several horses in this division. We have Gift Box, Higher Power and Combatant. We think there are opportunities for these horses in different races. These are problems we like to have. We like to have a lot of good horses. There's never a problem having too many horses that can run. We can run them in different spots.”
Sadler is the first trainer to win back-to-back-to-back Big 'Caps.
“My parents would bring me to spend time in the infield and we would have a picnic on the weekend,” said Sadler when asked of the significance of winning one of Santa Anita's most prestigious races yet again. “It's just great, I can't explain it, what it means to me. Three different horses and all really top horses.
He added, “My clients, Kosta, Stephanie, and Pete Hronis, they really back me. They lead through example and they encourage me all the time, so it's fun to reward them.”
Kosta Hronis also has fond memories of visiting Santa Anita as a child: “As a little kid coming to the racetrack, we always came to the Santa Anita Handicap. To be in the race is an honor and to win it three times in a row, that is just a tribute to John Sadler and his team. Three different horses three different years. Gift Box got scratched as the 6-5 favorite, so we brought in the 12-1 [morning line] up and we just win the race. That's just what he does.”
Sadler and Hronis Racing partnered with Lane's End Racing earlier on the card to take the GII San Carlos S. with Flagstaff (Speightstown).
Pedigree Notes:
Combatant notched his first stakes score Saturday, making him one of 130 black-type winners for Scat Daddy, who died the same year Combatant was foaled. As part of his penultimate crop, Combatant becomes his sire's 78th graded winner. In spite of a plethora of champions and leading sire titles in South America to his name, Scat Daddy is best known for siring 2018 American Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner Justify, whose first foals are arriving this year. Out of a Boundary mare, Combatant is a half-brother to Long Lashes (Rock Hard Ten), whose travels included a win in the 2009 G3 Sweet Solera S. at Newmarket. The half-siblings make up two of Boundary's 37 stakes winners out of his daughters. Border Dispute's 2-year-old filly Lisboa (American Pharoah) sold at last year's Keeneland September sale for $230,000. The mare has a yearling colt, also by American Pharoah, waiting in the wings. Interestingly, Combatant is a ridgling, while all six of his half-brothers of racing age have been gelded.
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