On Saturday, Juan Hernandez had the mount on Brickyard Ride for trainer Craig Lewis in the Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint for 4-year-olds and up, one of five Cal-bred stakes on Cal Cup Day.  With Hernandez putting Brickyard Ride's speed to good use from post position three in the field of eight, they showed the way up the backstretch and drew away in upper stretch to a 1 3/4-length win in 1:09.54 for six furlongs. It was Hernandez's second win of the day. Off as the favorite, Brickyard Ride paid $5.40, $3.80 and $2.60.

“Craig told me to just let him run,” said Hernandez speaking to the Santa Anita publicity team. “He broke really sharp and he was ready today. Once I was on the lead that was it, I just let him run. I felt the pace was a little fast, but that is fine for a horse like him.”

Monday's holiday card featured the Grade 3 Astra Stakes with Hernandez riding the French-bred Neige Blanche for trainer Leonard Powell. The race was transferred from the hillside turf course to a flat start on the backstretch. Sent off as the heavy favorite in the field of five, Neige Blanche found herself bottled up on the rail with her four rivals in front of her. Hernandez called on Neige Blanche once a seam opened up  turning for home and overtook Disappearing Act with Flavien Prat in the stretch to win the one and one-half mile marathon in 2:32.27. She paid $2.60 to win. 

“The trip worked out pretty good for her because she likes to run like that,” said Hernandez, who has now ridden Neige Blanche in her last seven races, winning four of them. “I put a lot of trust in her and in Leonard to have her ready. I felt like I had a lot of horse. We were waiting for something to open up. She's a nice filly, she was ready today.”

Weekly statistics for Hernandez were 17-5-2-3 and total purse earnings of $338,560. He currently is in third place in the Santa Anita jockey standings with 13 win and just over $1 million in purse earnings.

Hernandez outpolled fellow riders Armando Ayuso with a 40 percent win rate, Arnaldo Bocachica also with a 40 percent win rate, Flavien Prat who was leading jockey with total and stakes purse earnings, and Luis Saez with a stakes win at Gulfstream Park.

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Trained by French native Leonard Powell, Neige Blanche (White Snow) got a marathon mile and one half on firm turf in 2:32.27.

With the Astra start transferred earlier in the day because of rain from the hillside course to a flat start on the backstretch, Frose bounded out to an early lead with Disappearing Act and Neige Blanche in close attendance.  With nowhere to go with five sixteenths of a mile remaining, Neige Blanche had to bide her time while the back markers, Reiwa and Scherzo actually passed her approaching the quarter pole.

“The trip worked out pretty good for her because she likes to run like that,” said Hernandez, who has now ridden Neige Blanche in her last seven races, winning four of them.  “Just put her behind horses and she was happy the whole race.  I was just waiting for some space to come through and make her run, because as soon as she finds (room), you just put her in there and she just comes right through like she did today.

“I put a lot of trust in her and in Leonard to have her ready.  I felt like I had a lot of horse.  We were just waiting for something to open up.  She's a nice filly, she was ready today.”

A winner of the G3 Red Carpet Handicap going 1 3/8 miles on turf at Del Mar Nov. 25, Neige Blanche, heavily favored in a field of five older mares, paid $2.60, $2.10 and $2.10.

Owned by Madaket Stables, LLC, Laura De Seroux, Marsha Naify and Mathilde Powell, Neige Blanche registered her third graded stakes win and fourth overall added money win, running her overall mark to 16-7-0-3.  With the winner's share of $75,000, she increased her earnings to $390,280.

“I was cursing my country and (fellow Frenchman) Flavien a little bit to open the hole, but she was there when Juan asked her and she's a very game filly, she's all-out,” said Powell, who suffered the recent loss of his father, a prominent bloodstock agent in France. “In the first of the spring, we have races here (at Santa Anita) that are spaced apart four or five weeks, so we will do that and if she does well, maybe we will try to look at a Grade 1 somewhere down the road.

When asked by TVG's Joaquin Jaime about the death of his father, Powell responded, “My father has done a lot for racing in France, and me being here is part of him. And my daughter (Mathilde) being here, that's another part of him. My brothers and stepbrother back in France, we all live on with all that he told us. He was a great man to all and I hope we make him proud.”

The second choice with Prat at 3-1, Disappearing Act nearly pulled off the upset, finishing six lengths clear of English-bred Scherzo and paid $2.80 and $2.10.

Last early, Scherzo, who shipped in from Golden Gate Fields for trainer Manny Badilla, was off at 22-1 with Kyle Frey up and paid $3.60 to show while finishing 2 ¼ lengths in front of early pacesetter Frose.

Fractions on the race were 25.99, 51.35, 1:16.99, 1:42.70 and 2:08.06.

Live racing resumes with first post time for an eight-race card on Friday at 12:30 p.m.

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The Grade 3 Astra is a 1 1/2-mile marathon turf contest for fillies and mares, and features a compact field of five runners. The morning-line favorite is Neige Blanche for trainer Leonard Powell. The winner of three of her six starts in her native France, Neige Blanche has won three of her nine stateside starts with Powell, including winning three out of six last year and a career-best $204,168.

Saturday's action is perhaps topped by the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park, which has drawn last year's G2 Rebel winner Concert Tour in his debut for new trainer Brad Cox, as well as three millionaires (Rated R Superstar, Snapper Sinclair and Long Range Toddy), another Oaklawn stakes winner (Silver Prospector) and Mucho, who will be making his two-turn debut.

Overseas, the Dubai World Cup Carnival kicks off this weekend with the Group 2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1, featuring an interesting full field of 14 locally-trained runners. Among the starters are 2021 Godolphin Mile (G2) winner Secret Ambition; Dubai World Cup fourth Hypothetical; Salute The Soldier, the Bahrain-owned gelding who won the second and third rounds of the series last season; two veteran former Al Maktoum Challenge winners, Kimbear (Round 1 2020) and Capezzano (Round 3, 2019); and four-time Meydan dirt scorer Thegreatcollection.

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A winner of the G3 Santa Barbara Stakes going the same distance five starts back on May, 2021, Neige Blanche has maintained a consistent form, winning an ungraded stakes at 1 3/8 miles on turf three starts back on Aug. 14 at Del Mar, and winning her most recent assignment, the G3 Red Carpet Handicap at a mile and three eighths on turf Nov. 25.

A winner of three of her six starts in her native France, Neige Blanche has won three of her nine stateside starts with Powell, including winning three out of six last year and a career-best $204,168. Owned by Madaket Stables, LLC, Laura DeSeroux, Marsh Naify and Mathilde Powell, Neige Blanche took the Red Carpet in gate to wire fashion but has also proven effective stalking the pace in marathon scenarios. With an overall mark of 15-6-0-3, she's the leading money earner in the field with $315,280 and will be ridden for the seventh consecutive time by Juan Hernandez.

California-bred Reiwa, a winner of two consecutive allowance races on Oct. 30 and Nov. 20 at Golden Gate Fields, comes off a fourth place finish in the ungraded Miss America Stakes going a mile and one sixteenth on Dec. 12. Trained by Jonathan Wong, Reiwa, a 5-year-old mare by the El Prado stallion James Street, is 18-4-5-0 overall and will be looking for her first stakes win with Umberto Rispoli up.

THE GRADE 3 ASTRA WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 3:30 p.m. PT

1. Neige Blanche—Juan Hernandez—124
2. Disappearing Act—Flavien Prat—120
3. Frose—Mario Gutierrez—120
4. Reiwa—Umberto Rispoli—120
5. Scherzo—Kyle Frey–120

First post time on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday is at 12:30 p.m. In addition to holiday racing, there will be one dollar beers, sodas and two dollar hot dogs offered through the afternoon. Admission gates will open at 10:30 a.m.

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With a hillside start, the Astra, at a mile and one half on turf, was run in 2:27.71.

In-hand while a joint third outside of her stablemate as the field came out of the clubhouse turn for its run up the backside, Quick was about two lengths off pacesetter Aunt Lubie.  At the 3 ½-furlong mark, Rispoli stepped on the gas and was three-wide turning for home outside Aunt Lubie and Carpe Vinum.  From there, English-bred Quick gained the advantage, while French-bred Hermaphrodite had to wait for room at the rail.

This proved the difference, as Quick survived by a diminishing nose right on the money.

“Pace was not that fast, so I had to make a decision to move,” said Rispoli, who is now tied with Rosario with a meet-leading four stakes wins through 12 racing days.  “I knew where I sat and I know her, she could go through.  She's a galloper, when she moved again, I got lucky it was by the wire.  Sometimes you need luck in these things.

“…It's always a pleasure, it's probably not nice for him to hear it, but it's always a pleasure to beat a jockey like (Rosario).  He's so respectful, so nice.  I asked him after the wire, 'Did you get me?' because my head was down, and I was just focusing to try to win the race.  He said 'No, no, you got it.'”

A solid third going a mile and three eighths on turf in the G3 Red Carpet Handicap at Del Mar Nov. 26, Quick, a 5-year-old mare by Olympic Glory, broke through the starting gate prior to the break but she remained the favorite in a field of nine older fillies and mares, returning $5.80, $3.60 and $2.80.

“She got the trip she needed today,” said Juan Leyva, assistant to Sadler.  “She got to relax, not be on the front end.  She settled well and got a perfect trip.  I think our other filly (runner-up Hermaphrodite) might have been a little better, but it worked out great, we ran one-two.”

In garnering her first graded stakes win, Quick, who made her US debut here on Feb. 1, 2020, has now won two of her nine starts with Sadler and is 16-4-5-3 overall.  With the winner's share of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $172,935.

Hermaphrodite saved ground at the rail throughout, but lacked room when it counted, from the quarter pole to the eighth pole, and indeed finished as though she may've been best.  The 4-1 second choice, she finished 2 ¼ lengths in front of a late running Altea and paid $4.80 and $3.20.

Ridden by Abel Cedillo, Altea outran Lucky Peridot by a half length and paid $3.80 to show.

Fractions on the race were 23.98, 48.25, 1:13.59, 1:39.18 and 2:03.40.

First post time for a nine-race holiday card on Monday is at 12:30 p.m. PT.

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Saturday, Jan. 16, is California Cup Day at Santa Anita, with the entire card, including five stakes, dedicated to horses bred or sired in California.

On Sunday, older fillies and mares will go a marathon mile and one half on turf in the Grade 3, $100,000 Astra Stakes.

For additional information, please visit santaanita.com.

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