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Santa Anita Trio Finishes Preparations For Pegasus World Cup Day Turf Races

Three Santa Anita-based horses finished final preparations for a pair of graded stakes to be run this Saturday on Pegasus World Cup Day at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Trainer Dan Blacker's Hit the Road drilled five furlongs on turf prior to Sunday's Santa Anita races, as did the Richard Baltas-trained Bob and Jackie, both in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, while the Baltas-trained Bodhiccta went the same distance while readying for Gulfstream's G3, $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf.

All three came onto Santa Anita's one-mile main track via the quarter mile chute at about 11:45 a.m. and worked separately over the turf oval.

The G1 stakes-winning Hit the Road drilled five furlongs under assistant trainer and regular exercise rider Juan Landeros in 1:01.42 in what appeared to be a maintenance move. In his penultimate Pegasus work last Sunday, the 5-year-old horse by More Than Ready smoked five furlongs on turf in in 58.42.

Bob and Jackie, a winner of the G3 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, was the first horse on the turf and he went three furlongs in 35.80 en route to a final clocking of 59.77 under Jose Valdivia, Jr.

A 6-year-old horse by Twirling Candy, Bob and Jackie, a four-time stakes winner, will be looking for his second graded stakes win.

Bodhicitta, a 6-year-old English-bred mare, broke off about three furlongs behind her stablemate and worked five furlongs in preparation for the G3, $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf with Umberto Rispoli up in 59.61.

The G1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational heads a total of seven graded stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and will feature a showdown between presumptive Horse of the Year Knicks Go and recent G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good.

Santa Anita will offer three graded stakes on Saturday, the G2, $200,000 San Vicente, the G3, $200,000 Palos Verdes and the G3, $100,000 Megahertz.

First post time on Saturday at Santa Anita will be at 12:30 p.m. PT. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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Toboggan Kicks Off NYRA’s 2022 Graded Stakes; Hopeful Treasure Possible

Grade 3 Fall Highweight winner Hopeful Treasure could return to Aqueduct in Ozone Park, N.Y., for another graded stakes engagement in Saturday's seven-furlong Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan for older horses in what will be NYRA's first graded stakes event on the calendar year.

The six-furlong Fall Highweight provided a first graded stakes victory for both Hopeful Treasure as well as for trainer Michael Catalano, Jr., who is based at Parx Racing.

While the Toboggan is a logical option for the son of Oxbow, Catalano, Jr. said Hopeful Treasure could ship to Laurel Park for the $100,000 Fire Plug, also to be run Saturday.

“We're between two races, there and Laurel,” Catalano, Jr. said. “I'm not sure which way we're going to go. We're going to see how the races are shaping up and pick the right one.”

Hopeful Treasure has worked twice at Parx since his Fall Highweight coup, most recently working an easy half-mile in 51.47 seconds on Wednesday. Catalano, Jr. said he was tempted to run him once more last year but backed off the horse and didn't work him at all in December.

“We tried to give him enough time so he wouldn't regress, and I think he's ready,” Catalano, Jr. said.

Owned by Tony Como's Just In Time Racing, Hopeful Treasure was bought for a frugal $6,000 by original trainer Michael Pino, who conditioned the horse through three wins in his first eight career starts.

Transferred to Catalano, Jr., Hopeful Treasure picked up three more victories including a 1 ¾-length allowance score at Parx four weeks prior to the Fall Highweight.

“He's matured both mentally and physically and he trained really, really forward into both of his last races. It just seemed like he was ready to jump forward,” Catalano, Jr. said.

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Mandaloun Denies Midnight Bourbon In Louisiana Stakes

It was billed as a two-horse match race between millionaires Mandaloun and Midnight Bourbon, and that's exactly what the Grade 3, $150,000 Louisiana Stakes became on Saturday at the Fair Grounds. Turning for home in their sixth meeting on the track, Mandaloun (4-5) and Midnight Bourbon (6-5) drew even near the center of the course and remained locked in battle until the sixteenth pole. Jockeys Florent Geroux and Joel Rosario each gave their mounts their all, but it was Mandaloun and Geroux who prevailed by three-quarters of a length at the wire.

The Juddmonte homebred by Into Mischief, trained by Brad Cox and racing off a seven-month layoff, covered 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1:42.52. It was Geroux's fourth win on the card.

Each millionaire received Lasix for the first time in Saturday's contest, and trainer Steve Asmussen added blinkers to the equipment of Midnight Bourbon.

Midnight Bourbon broke in a bit at the start, bumping Mandaloun slightly, then went straight to the lead under Rosario. Midnight Bourbon had a one-length advantage over Sprawl entering the backstretch, setting fractions of 24.39 and 48.25 seconds, then pulling away to a two-length lead nearing the half-mile pole.

Geroux sent Mandaloun up the rail into second approaching the far turn, then angled to the outside of Midnight Bourbon to mount his stretch challenge. Midnight Bourbon went wide into the lane, pushing Mandaloun out to the center of the track, and the two were head-and-head for the next eighth of a mile.

Battling fiercely, the two millionaires dug in gamely down the stretch. Mandaloun got his head in front at the sixteenth pole, and continued to inch away toward the wire. At the finish, it was Mandaloun by three-quarters of a length over Midnight Bourbon, denying Rosario and Asmussen a fourth win on Saturday's card in New Orleans. It was several lengths back to Warrant in third, also trained by Cox, and Spa City checked in fourth over Sprawl.

Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Mandaloun is out of the Group 2-winning Empire Maker mare Brooch. He impressed on debut at Keeneland in 2020, then won a first-level allowance before finishing third in the 2021 Lecomte (G3). Mandaloun returned to win the G2 Risen Star, but never showed up next out in the G2 Louisiana Derby. Still, he'd earned enough points to Run for the Roses, and Mandaloun ran a giant race to finish second behind Medina Spirit in the shadow of the Twin Spires.

Mandaloun won the listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth five weeks later, and was awarded the victory in the G1 Haskell when Hot Rod Charlie was disqualified in July. Unraced since that start on July 17, Mandaloun returned plenty fit to capture the Louisiana Stakes in what could be a prep for the world's richest horse race, the G1 Saudi Cup on Feb. 26. Overall, Mandaloun's record stands at six wins from nine starts for earnings of over $1.75 million.

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Miss Mosaic Goes Out On Top In American Beauty

Keystone Racing LLC's Miss Mosaic rode off into the sunset with a victory in Saturday's $150,000 American Beauty Stakes at Oaklawn by closing out her career with a neck victory before 22,000 fans.

The 6-year-old daughter of Verrazano is now slated for retirement after getting her first stakes victory in the six-furlong race over Joy's Rocket. Ain't No Elmers finished third. Li'l Tootsie, the 2-1 favorite, finished sixth.

“The trainer told me to just try not to get into trouble,” said jockey David Cabrera of the instructions sent by Kentucky-based trainer Ben Colebrook. “Once I got her sitting comfortable, she was just relaxed, so I knew they were going to have a tough time catching us.”

Miss Mosaic brings a glittering pedigree to the breeding shed, joining two siblings with stakes wins on their resumes, including Miss Temple City a multiple Grade 1-winner. The victory snapped a three-race string of second-place finishes including a runner-up performance in the Mrs. Claus Stakes at Parx Racing last month.

“It's an amazing story,” said winning owner/breeder Aaron Jutte, who noted the mare will now be bred to top sire Tapit. “We had a lot of trouble with her, Miss Mosaic, in her early career and gave her a bunch of time off. As a single owner, you don't have to worry about partners at that point, so you can give her all the time off in the world you want. Just like 2-year-old stuff and so we just gave her, basically, her 2-year-old and halfway through her 3-year-old career off. She didn't make a start until she was at the end of her 3-year-old career.”

The filly Sarah Harper set the pace but gave way at the top of the stretch to Miss Mosaic. The field chased her home as she finished in 1:10 3/5 over a fast track. She returned $16.80, $8.20 and $5.40 at odds of 7-1.

Racing resumes Sunday with a 12:30 p.m. first post.

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