Idle since winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7, Dr. Schivel overcame significant adversity from his rail post position to win Friday's $65,000 allowance feature by a neck at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Sold privately prior to the Futurity and running for the first time for trainer Mark Glatt, Dr. Schivel was ridden with confidence by Flavien Prat while getting six furlongs over a track that hadn't been playing overly fast earlier in 1:09.46.
Breaking from the rail, Dr. Schivel was an attentive third, about two lengths off pacesetter Canadian Pride, with three furlongs to run and with the Bob Baffert-trained Speed Pass keeping him hemmed in behind the leader, Prat finally got loose outside of Canadian Pride inside the furlong marker and gradually overhauled him in a thoroughly professional effort.
Off as the 6-5 favorite in a field of five 3-year-olds and up, Dr. Schivel, a Kentucky-bred colt by Violence, paid $4.40, $2.60 and $2.20.
“He broke sharp and then a couple steps outta there, he kinda stutter stepped a little and I think he lost a little bit of early position,” said Glatt. “Those other horses pretty much had him down in a spot there where he was in a lot of trouble, but the most impressive thing was, when Flavien did get him off the inside, and in a place where he could let him run, he said 'You're not beating me.' He came and got that horse.
“A lot of horses at that point, might have said 'Hey, UNCLE for today,' but he just pinned his ears and came after that horse and got him. We've actually been hoping he'd come back and run a race like this in his comeback race. There's a couple races for 3-year-olds at Saratoga in August and we've been planning on getting him back there. That kinda keeps us from stretching him out. There will be a time to stretch him out, but if we can take a shot at a Grade 1 at the end of August for 3-year-olds, that's gonna be right up his alley.”
Owned by Red Baron's Barn, LLC, Rancho Temescal, LLC, William A. Branch and William Dean Reeves, Dr. Schivel is out of the Mining for Money mare Lil Nugget. Originally trained by Luis Mendez, Dr. Schivel improved his overall mark to 5-3-1-1 and with Friday's winning purse of $39,000, increased his earnings to $236,000.
Trained by Peter Eurton, Canadian Pride ran too good to lose, as he did all the early work and finished 5 ¼ lengths in front of Speed Pass. Off at 9-5 with Abel Cedillo, Canadian Pride paid $2.80 and $2.20.
In hot pursuit of the runner-up for five eighths of a mile, Speed Pass, who was off at 7-2 with Edwin Maldonado, paid $2.60 to show while finishing a half length better than Fight On.
Fractions on the race were 22.27, 44.98 and 56.98.
First post time on Saturday, the penultimate day of Santa Anita's 78-day Winter/Spring Meeting is at 1 p.m. PT. Four stakes will highlight an 11-race program.
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