Snapper Sinclair To Try Down The Hill In Friday’s Eddie D Stakes

The long wait is over. Idle since March of 2019, Santa Anita's legendary Camino Real Hillside Turf Course will play host to an outstanding opening day field of nine three-year-olds and up competing at about six and a half furlongs in Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes. The Eddie D is one of four stakes on opening day of Santa Anita's 16-day Autumn Meet which will conclude on Oct. 31. Trainer Steve Asmussen's Midwest invader Snapper Sinclair and Phil D'Amato's locally based Gregorian Chant head what appears to be a very deep and diverse lineup.

One of the most popular races among fans and horsemen since December, 1953, the Camino Real hillside is a European style course with a panoramic start on Santa Anita's northern perimeter, hard by Colorado Place, an iconic stretch of roadway that was a part of America's original Route 66.

Once the horses are underway, they will negotiate a slight right-hand turn followed by a run “down the dip,” as Joe Hernandez, the original Voice of Santa Anita, used to describe horses as they ran down an undulating swale before emerging from behind a stand of trees en route to the quarter pole. From there, the field will cross the main track and then reunite with the “course proper” for what is often a thrilling stretch run.

Snapper Sinclair, a 6-year-old full horse by City Zip, comes off a three quarter length victory in a one-turn restricted stakes going a mile and 70 yards on turf at Kentucky Downs Sept. 8. Owned by Bloom Racing Stables, LLC, Snapper Sinclair, who ran fourth in 2019 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita, will be shipping in from his Churchill Downs base and be trying the Santa Anita turf for the first time and will be making his fifth start of the year.

Primarily campaigned at one mile on turf and dirt, Snapper Sinclair was a seven furlong turf stakes winner in his third career start on Sept. 6, 2017 at Churchill and he has not sprinted on turf or dirt since October 17, 2018 at Keeneland. With two wins from four starts this year, he's now banked $1,793,340 from an overall mark of 33-7-8-4.

Originally pegged as a long-fused turf runner, D'Amato's Gregorian Chant found a new lease on life sprinting out of Santa Anita's newly constructed turf chute this past winter. A winner of three consecutive six furlong turf stakes, including the Grade 3 San Simeon four starts back on March 13, Gregorian Chant, a 5-year-old English-bred gelding, was too close to the early pace in Belmont Park's Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes on June 5, finishing seventh, beaten 4 ¼ lengths at 5-1 going six furlongs over a turf that was listed as good.

In his most recent start, Gregorian Chant finished third, beaten 2 ½ lengths in Del Mar's five furlong turf Green Flash Handicap Aug. 22, a race that appeared a bit short for his late running style. Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Old Bones Racing Stable, LLC and Michael Nentwig, Gregorian Chant will be trying Santa Anita's hillside turf for the first time with high expectations.

D'Amato will also be represented by the talented multiple stakes winning mare Charmaine's Mia, the lone distaffer in the field. A three-time graded stakes winner at six furlongs and one mile (twice) over the Santa Anita lawn, she too will be trying the hillside course for the first time. Owned by Agave Racing Stable, Medallion Racing and Rockin Robin Racing Stables, Charmaine's Mia, who had been campaigned primarily at Woodbine Racecourse in Toronto, joined D'Amato's stable late last year.

Idle since finishing sixth in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at a mile and one sixteenth at Del Mar Aug. 7, Charmaine's Mia, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred mare by The Factor, has not sprinted since winning her first start for D'Amato five starts back in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes at six furlongs on turf here on Jan. 9.

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Although a bit long in tooth at age seven, trainer Mark Glatt's Law Abidin Citizen, idle since a close fourth on dirt in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes July 31 at Del Mar, is fresh, dangerous and has the distinction of having won the last race down the hill—the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on March 31, 2019. A winner of four of eight starts over the hillside turf, this Twirling Candy gelding will be making his fourth start of the year as Glatt eyes the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November. Owned by Dan Agnew, Gerry Schneider and John Xitco, Law Abidin Citizen rates a huge chance on Friday.

Glen Hill Farm's homebred Caribou Club, another 7-year-old gelding, has won two of his three starts down the hill, including his most recent, the Grade 3 Joe Hernandez Stakes on Jan. 1, 2019 when conditioned by Tom Proctor. Idle since a close fourth in an ungraded stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf July 17 at Gulfstream Park, Caribou Club will be making his fourth start of the year and his first for trainer Michael McCarthy. Caribou Club will be reunited for the first since 2017 with Drayden Van Dyke, who at that time guided him to a pair of wins from four starts.

Originally run as the Morvich Handicap in 1974, the Eddie D was renamed in 2012 to honor legendary retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye.

THE GRADE 2 EDDIE D STAKES WITH JOCKEY & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

  1. Gregorian Chant—Juan Hernandez–126
  2. Caribou Club—Drayden Van Dyke—126
  3. Mesut—Umberto Rispoli—122
  4. Charmaine's Mia—Flavien Prat—123
  5. Law Abidin Citizen—Abel Cedillo—126
  6. Chaos Theory—Kent Desormeaux—126
  7. Lieutenant Dan—Geovanni Franco—126
  8. Whisper Not—John Velazquez—126
  9. Snapper Sinclair—Joel Rosario–124

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Glatt Says Dr. Schivel Exited Bing Crosby In Good Health

A year after winning the $300,000 Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes with 3-year-old Collusion Illusion, trainer Mark Glatt did it again Saturday with another sophomore colt, Dr. Schivel at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

It's the first time one trainer has won the premier sprint stake of the meeting back-to-back with 3-year-olds tackling older rivals. And, as Glatt states it, there's no secret or trick to pulling off the unprecedented.

“When you have a really good 3-year-old, like this horse and Collusion Illusion last year, going against older is not that big a factor,” Glatt said. “When you have just an average horse, I think (age) comes into play a lot more.”

Dr. Schivel, a Kentucky-bred son of Violence, broke his maiden here in his third career start last August and came back a month later to win the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity for trainer Luis Mendez in early September.

Transferred to Glatt's barn, the colt was given a nine-month layoff, then overcame some bumping to win his 2021 debut in a June allowance race at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., that signaled stakes readiness.

“After he won his comeback race, we were eyeballing a race in New York (Sunday's 6 ½-furlong, $200,000 Amsterdam) at Saratoga that was a straight 3-year-old race,” Glatt said. “As we got further removed from his comeback race we (considered) how difficult it is to ship in to Saratoga and how he loves this track.

“Several of the owners live around here and want to watch the horse run, so I thought it was best to stay here and give it a try.”

The $180,000 winner's share of the purse pushed Dr. Schivel's career earnings to $416,000 from six career starts. The Bing Crosby was a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint over the same course on November 6.

Glatt said Sunday morning that Dr. Schivel and Law Abidin Citizen – third in the 2020 Crosby, fourth Saturday beaten less than a length – both came out of the race in good health. A third Glatt entrant in the Crosby, defending champion Collusion Illusion, was scratched due to a minor injury incurred in a training run Friday.

“It probably would have been safe to run him but the ownership group and I thought it was best to err on the conservative side and have him run another day,” Glatt said. “I don't know when, but I don't think that day will be very far off.”

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Trainer Bob Baffert said that Eight Rings, the Crosby runner-up beaten a neck at odds of 16-1, came out of the race with a shoe on one hoof that was bent nearly in half, but was otherwise fine.

“We were happy with him and thought he showed a lot of heart,” Baffert said. His next assignment remains to be determined.

Trainer Peter Miller reported that third-place finisher and 3-2 favorite C Z Rocket, beat only a half-length, exited the effort well. “He ran great, but you can't make up as much ground as he needed to on this track the way it's playing,” Miller said.

C Z Rocket will not defend his title in the $200,000 Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes on August 28. “We'll wait for Santa Anita,” Miller said.

 

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Glatt Goes Big Gunning For Back-To-Back Bings

Mark Glatt saddled Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen for the 2020 edition of the Bing Crosby Stakes and was rewarded with a 1-3 finish that provided him the first Grade 1 victory of his 16-year career as a Thoroughbred trainer.

And the resultant victory celebration was, as Glatt mildly puts it: “Kind of subdued, with no one around.

“We couldn't go out to dinner or anything, there weren't many restaurants even open, and we had to wake up early the next day.”

Blame COVID which, although racing went on, precluded crowds, winner's circle presentations or even close-contact celebrations by the connections of the victorious horses. So Glatt was relegated to socially distanced media interviews and loosely-posed pictures with family members and stable employees.

Not that it mattered all that much.

“A Grade 1 is a Grade 1, no matter where (or under what circumstances), you win,” Glatt said.

On Saturday, Glatt will be back for another Bing Crosby seeking the second Grade 1 score of his career. He entered the same two horses, Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen, from 2020 and one more, 3-year-old Dr. Schivel, to boot.

Late in the week he was still giving all three consideration. But Glatt indicated the most likely scenario would be that Collusion Illusion and Dr. Schivel would start and Law Abidin Citizen would be held out for another assignment.

Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen are both sons of Twirling Candy that Glatt picked out for clients from Kentucky sales.

“I was stabled next to John Sadler when Twirling Candy was running and just thought he was an amazing looking animal and certainly a very good racehorse,” Glatt said. “I thought that maybe when he went to stud I'd have an opportunity to pick up one or two of (Twirling Candy's progeny).”

He picked both Law Abidin Citizen and “Collusion” for a group based in his native state of Washington – Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, John Xitco and Dr. Rodney Orr.

In the 2020 Crosby, 6-year-old Law Abidin Citizen, ridden by Abel Cedillo, didn't wilt after being close to a fast early pace and held on for third as 3-year-old Collusion Illusion, given a heady ride by leading jockey Flavien Pratt, rallied along the rail in the final furlong to edge Lexitonian on the wire.

The horses are a year older. The riders are different. And there was not an ounce of nostalgia involved in Glatt's thoughts of doubling back to the cast of 2020.

“The race is different from one year to the next, the horses and the way they're coming into the race is different. That's what you base it on,” Glatt said.

Collusion Illusion earned an automatic berth into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint via last year's Bing Crosby victory. A traffic-troubled 12th of 14 result in the BC Sprint at Keeneland in November was sandwiched between a second in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship in September and third in the Grade 1 Malibu in December.

Collusion Illusion's six-race 2020 campaign ended with earnings of $317,800, boosting his career total to $474,751. The Bing Crosby will be his 2021 debut.

Law Abidin Citizen followed the Bing Crosby with a start in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien, the second in Del Mar's summer sprint stakes series, and was third to C Z Rocket. He made his 2021 debut with a fourth-place result in the Grade 3 Daytona at Santa Anita on May 29 then won the Oak Tree Sprint at Pleasanton on July 3.

“He's a hard-trying horse and maybe he can pull a little bit of an upset,” Glatt said.

Dr. Schivel won the Del Mar Futurity last September for trainer Luis Mendez after it had been reported that the ownership partners — Red Barons Barn and Rancho Temescal — were soon to turn the Violence colt over to Glatt.

The media voted Dr. Schivel the top 2-year-old of the meeting and Collusion Illusion the top sprinter, giving Glatt two returning division champions to saddle in the Crosby.

Dr. Schivel started his 3-year-old campaign with a neck victory in an allowance sprint at Santa Anita in June. Prat, who has won five of the last six runnings of the Bing Crosby – missing only in 2019 – will be aboard.

“He had a very good comeback race and he has trained very well since,” Glatt said.

Collusion Illusion became Glatt's fifth Breeders' Cup starter and a Crosby victory with any of the horses would put him in the enviable position of “home track” advantage when the BC Sprint is held at Del Mar as part of the 14-race, $28 million, two-day fall championships on November 5-6.

Collusion Illusion joined Eddie Haskell (11th, 2019 Turf Sprint) and La Tee (10th, 2008 Filly & Mare Sprint) as short-distance race Breeders' Cup starters for Glatt. He also had Blackjackcat (3rd, 2017 Mile on turf) and Sharp Samurai (3rd, 2020 Dirt Mile).

The performances of Blackjackcat and Sharp Samurai should serve as a shield for Glatt, a 48-year-old native of Washington, from being typecast as a “sprint” trainer. Not that he's worried about that either.

“If that's the worst thing they call me, I'm doing all right,” Glatt said.

Equibase statistics show Glatt is No. 42 in North America for earnings in 2021. Entering the third week of Del Mar racing on Thursday, July 29, he had 34 wins from 160 starters with stable purse earnings of $1,739,366. His career numbers: 6,774 starters, 1,039 wins (No. 1,000 was recorded last November 20 at the Bing Crosby fall meeting with Zestful) and earnings of more than $34 million.

With one Grade 1 victory on the record, he has loaded up for another on Saturday.

And this one, if it happens, won't be so quiet.

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Bing Crosby Nominations Promises Deep Field Of Sprinters At Del Mar

Seventeen horses, encompassing virtually all the top sprinters on the West Coast, have been nominated to Saturday's $300,000 Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes, assuring that the field will be a stellar one when it is set and post positions are drawn on Wednesday.

Trainer Mark Glatt finished first and third in the 2020 Crosby with Collusion Illusion and Law Abidin Citizen. He has those two plus Dr. Schivel nominated and said Sunday he might run all three.

Other marquee speedsters on the nomination list include 2020 Pat O'Brien winner C Z Rocket for Peter Miller; the trio of Ax Man, Eight Rings, and Gamine from the Bob Baffert barn; graded stakes winner Flagstaff from the John Sadler stable; and the double-quick Cal-bred Brickyard Ride out of the Craig Lewis barn.

Sadler said Flagstaff will skip the Bing Crosby and instead go in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien here on August 28.

Baffert said the 4-year-old filly Gamine, a winner of six graded stakes in her last seven starts – four of them Grade 1s – is more likely to continue competing against her own gender elsewhere than take on males in the Bing Crosby.

But Gamine is one of 11 older fillies and mares nominated to next Sunday's Clement L. Hirsch, as is stablemate As Time Goes By. A 4-year-old daughter of Baffert-trained Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, As Time Goes By is one of three stakes winners at Santa Anita that are possibles for the Hirsch, a 1 1/16-mile main track event that usually determines the top older filly or mare of the meeting.

The others are Venetian Harbor and Warren's Showtime.

The 6-furlong Bing Crosby is a “Win & You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar on November 6. The Clement L. Hirsch is likewise designated for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff that same day.

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