Saturday’s card at Santa Anita provides exciting stakes action from start to finish, with five graded stakes on offer, of which a pair have Breeders’ Cup implications via the Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win & You’re In” events. Overall, 10 races are on tap for Saturday with a first-race post time of 1 p.m. PT.
Saturday’s main event at Santa Anita is the ninth race, the Goodwood Stakes (G1), a “Win & You’re In” event that guarantees a winner a spot in the gate for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar in five weeks. The nine-furlong main track test drew a field of seven, including last year’s winner Defunded.
After being known as the Awesome Again Stakes since 2012 and last year as the California Crown, Santa Anita’s Goodwood Stakes is back to its original name in honor of the Oak Tree Racing Association’s sister track, Goodwood Racecourse in England. It had been contested in the name of Frank Stronach’s 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner - who ironically only raced twice in California and only at Hollywood Park -- since 2012. In 2018, champion Accelerate used the Awesome Again as a springboard to Breeders’ Cup Classic glory and joined Mucho Macho Man (2013), Pleasantly Perfect (2003) and Tiznow (2000) as Goodwood-Breeders’ Cup winners.
Ferdinand and Super Diamond won this race in the 1980s and though champion Bertrando won in 1994, the race became a significant Breeders’ Cup Classic prep when Kentucky Derby (G1) champion and reigning Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Silver Charm won en route to a second in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. Lord at War, Pleasantly Perfect and Game On Dude both earned two victories each since the race was first contested in 1982 and Lava Man, Shared Belief, California Chrome and the late Medina Spirit are also on the list of previous winners.
Hall of Famer Bob Baffert has saddled more winners of this race than any other trainer eight, including three in a row from 2020-2022, and fellow Hall of Famer Gary Stevens is still the most successful jockey, having guided home five winners himself.
Top East Coast trainer Brad Cox sends favored Oaklawn Handicap (G1) winner First Mission to California off a second in the Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) six weeks ago. He was also third before that in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1). He is nothing if not consistent shown it with his $2.2 million bank account and high in-the-money percentage. He likes the distance (two wins from seven starts with a second and a third) and though makes his first start on the Left Coast, is a seasoned globetrotter. He has some strong early tactical ability and will get a good pace to stalk at here and though who will ride him pending jockey Paco Lopez’s six-month suspension appeal, he’s had several different pilots with a lot of success. He’s definitely a good bet to key in any exactas and trifecta wagering.
Reigning Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Full Serrano (Arg) is back after a 10-month break and a nice allowance win down at Del Mar a month ago. The Argentina-bred is trained by John Sadler, who saddled the aforementioned Accelerate to win this race in 2018. While he seems to excel at a mile here in America, he was second in last year’s Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) at ten furlongs and at that distance a number of times in his home country, so this first attempt at nine furlongs shouldn’t be an issue. He will break from the far outside and as a frontrunning type will need to hustle, but it’s a fairly long run into the first turn from the 1 1/8-mile gate location into the first turn, so he should be ok when jockey Juan Hernandez sends, though a clean break is crucial.
The well-named Privman makes his stakes debut off a maiden and allowance win for Baffert. The steadily improving son of Justify, who was a $625,000 Keeneland September yearling, has been working mostly holes in the wind for weeks and though this will be his first shot at the distance he is certainly bred for it being by the most recent Triple Crown winner. He has a lot of question marks, but a lot of upside and should definitely be used in all exotic wagers.
Baffert will also be represented by last year’s Del Mar Futurity (G1) winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) runner-up Gaming, who is coming off of a well-beaten and super confusing third in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar last month. He has one win since the Breeders’ Cup last year in the ungraded Affirmed Stakes over this track back in June, but with one glaring exception at Oaklawn Park, is pretty consistent. He’s won from on the lead and well off the pace and though he makes his nine-furlong debut, he’s navigated two turns successfully before. He is obviously a good bet for exotic wagers, his inconsistency to win makes him hard to pick on top.
Baffert’s third entrant in search of his ninth Goodwood is the lightly raced Nevada Beach making his first start since taking the Los Alamitos Derby (G1) back in mid-June. Second behind stablemate Gaming in the Affirmed, this colt has earned some big numbers to suggest he belongs, at least to pick up a piece.
Eight-year-old Express Train has the miles and the money ($1.6 million) to prove he deserves a crack here. The Union Rags horse was third in this race in 2021 and fourth in 2022 before spending all of 2023 on the shelf. He hasn’t won a race in ten starts since taking the the 2022 Santa Anita Handicap (G1) though he regularly hits the board. Used to be his best made him dangerous, but he’s looking like he might be wanting to wind down his career.
Ultimate Gamble was a decent third in his first stakes appearance in the Pacific Classic and though a talented horse he seems a little overmatched against this field. Stranger things have happened, but in this case it’s a good idea to look elsewhere for your betting.
The Goodwood Stakes is scheduled to break from the gate at 5:08 p.m. PT.
1 Gaming (Kyle Frey, Bob Baffert), 6-1
2 Ultimate Gamble (Kazushi Kimura, Mark Glatt), 8-1
3 Privman (Antonio Fresu, Bob Baffert), 5-1
4 First Mission (Brad Cox, Paco Lopez), 8-5
5 Nevada Beach (Mike Smith, Bob Baffert), 12-1
6 Express Train (Hector Barrios, John Shirreffs), 20-1
7 Full Serrano (Arg) (Juan Hernandez, John Sadler), 2-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
