Big 'Cap

Santa Anita Park will launch its annual winter/spring live racing season on Monday with a 11-race card featuring six stakes races, highlighted by the $300,000 GI Runhappy Malibu S., $300,000 GI American Oaks, and $300,000 GI La Brea S., the last three Grade Is of the year in the U.S. Dubbed this season for the first time as the Classic Meet, racing at Santa Anita will be conducted on a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule through Apr. 9, the exceptions being Monday, Jan. 2 for the New Year's Day holiday, Monday, Jan. 16...

Newmarket-based trainer George Boughey is mapping out a 2023 campaign for Royal Ascot winner Missed The Cut (Quality Road), which includes a potential trip to Dubai and possibly America. "There's a chance that he could go to America," Boughey said. "There's a race called the Santa Anita H. on Mar. 4, which is a Grade I on dirt. We'll see, but he's doing very well physically and I always said to [co-owner] Bill Farish and the guys at Lane's End that I didn't want to over-race him this year but...

After four Grade I placings in addition to four graded wins, C R K Stable's Express Train (Union Rags) finally got a Grade I to call his own when he captured the Santa Anita H. presented by Yaamava' Resort & Casino in dramatic fashion Saturday. He was also rectifying another overdue omission in giving trainer John Shirreffs, who was nominated to the Hall of Fame this week, his first Big 'Cap win. The victory didn't come easily though, as Express Train had to battle the length of the stretch with...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton Generally speaking, when your horse is parked near last for most of the trip, fanned six wide on the far turn, fifth with a furlong to go, and still third 100 yards from the wire, your chances of winning are slim. Unless Joel Rosario is riding, of course. That was the exact scenario facing Idol (Curlin) in deep stretch of Saturday's GI Santa Anita H. at Santa Anita Park. Yet "Judicious Joel," who at age 36 is without fanfare blossoming into the absolute...

The undefeated Maxfield (Street Sense) looks to put on yet another show for racing fans Saturday as he invades the West Coast for the first time in the GI Santa Anita H. A debut winner at Churchill in September, the Godolphin homebred romped in Keenland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. a month later. The early favorite for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he was scratched after spiking a fever just days before the race. Resurfacing May 23 at Churchill, the bay captured the GIII Matt Winn S., but was knocked...

Life may not be especially Good, just yet--but let's hope that it's at least getting a little better, however slowly. Certainly we must trust that's true of the wider world, as science strives to stem the pandemic. For a margin of our parish going through troubles of its own, equally, no less commitment and tenacity are proving necessary to see out a long road. Two years ago, remember, they couldn't stage the GII San Felipe S. at all after a harrowing spate of catastrophic injuries. A racetrack many of us...

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...