santa anita park | Horse Racing Free Tips

Trainer Jack Carava Announces Career Shift, To Serve As Agent To Jockey Tyler Baze

Popular trainer Jack Carava, who notched an upset win with his penultimate starter on Monday at Del Mar, has announced he'll hang up his morning stopwatch and embrace Santa Anita's Autumn Meet Condition Book One as he'll now serve as agent for jockey Tyler Baze, who is returning to ride full time at The Great Race Place after an eight month absence.

“The time is right,” said Carava, 54, who has operated both a public and private stable in Southern California for the past 33 years. “I've had a lot of success with Tyler over the years and he's probably the hardest working jock I've ever known. I love training, but my stable has contracted over the past couple years and when Tyler called me, I realized this is a great opportunity.

“He rode at Oaklawn this winter and he's been in Kentucky all summer. He's excited to be back home with his family and he's got a lot customers here that are anxious to get him back on their horses. It'll take a little time to let everyone know that we're working together, but with Tyler's work ethic, I know we're gonna be in good shape. The book is out, so I've already taken some calls and we'll just approach everything day by day.”

The son of a trainer, Carava worked under trainers Jerry Fanning and Joe Griffin prior to setting out on his own in 1987. With his win in Monday's fifth race at Del Mar with Harper's Gallop ($15.80), Carava, who was Hollywood Park's Spring Summer leader in 2001 and was leading trainer at Santa Anita's 2002 Oak Tree Meet, leaves his shed row with 1,107 career wins, which contributed to stable earnings of $32.4 million and also included five graded stakes victories.

Baze, 37, who was America's Eclipse Award winning apprentice jockey in 2000, won the $500,000 More Than Ready Stakes with longshot Barrister Tom ($90.00) for trainer Michael Ewing at Kentucky Downs on Labor Day, giving him 2,718 career wins. He and his wife Christina reside in nearby Monrovia with their two daughters, Emilia, six, and Isla, four, along with one son, Luca, three.

Santa Anita's 18-day Autumn Meeting will open on Saturday, Sept. 19 and run through Sunday, Oct. 25.

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Santa Anita Adding New Turf Chute, Will Be Able To Run New Distances During December Meet

In a move that will ensure the most expansive turf racing program in the Western U.S., Santa Anita Park is in the process of adding a brand new turf course chute, which will enable the track to offer fans and horsemen a wide array of turf sprints that heretofore had not been available.

Under the direction of track consultant Dennis Moore, the new chute, which will run parallel to the seven furlong main track chute, will cross the dirt oval and join up with the turf oval at approximately the five furlong pole and be available for usage beginning opening day of Santa Anita's traditional Winter/Spring Meeting on Dec. 26.

The new turf chute, which is 80 feet wide and approximately 800 feet long, will comfortably accommodate sprint races at distances of 6 ½, six, 5 ½ and five furlongs on “the flat,” while Santa Anita's traditional Camino Real Hillside Course will continue to be available to horses running distances of a mile and a quarter and up.

“Turf racing has always been popular and it's even more so now,” said Santa Anita's Aidan Butler, who serves as Executive Director of California Racing Operations for The Stronach Group. “This new turf chute gives our Racing Office great deal more programmability. By that I mean that we'll have significantly more options and the turf will now be more available to horses of various classifications.

“Safety is of course our absolute top priority and that's one of the most exciting aspects of this project. We're confident this is going to be well received by everyone, including our fans, who've grown to love the spectacle of watching horses run over the Santa Anita turf—there's nothing like it in North American racing.”

With good turf racing a huge priority, Santa Anita will now be in a position to offer a greater variety of turf events than ever before and it is expected these new turf sprints will provide players with consistently large fields and enticing gambling opportunities while enabling Moore's maintenance crews to better maintain the condition of the turf.

“With a longer, truer run into the far turn, horses tend to sort themselves out and you don't have so much wear and tear on the course as you do with a shorter run,” said Moore. “We got to work on this project on Aug. 17 and it's going very well. We're going to have a very smooth transition for horses running six and 6 ½ furlongs when they cross the main track. First of all, it's early in the race and they'll be running in a straight line. We're in the process of bringing in enough fill (dirt) to elevate the chute and get it pretty much on the same level as the main track crossing.”

Moore also noted that the new chute will be comprised of the same Bandera Bermuda hybrid turf that's currently utilized on the turf oval and hillside.

With the exception of a slight alteration to the outside rail which enabled the track to begin running five furlong turf sprints in September, 2018, this turf chute project represents the first significant alteration to Santa Anita's world famous Camino Real Course, which was unveiled on Dec. 26, 1953.

Live racing will return to Santa Anita on Saturday, September 19, opening day of the track's 18-day Autumn Meeting.

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CHRB: Medical Director Issues Heat-Stress Memo, Santa Anita Approved To Delay Meet Start

The California Horse Racing Board conducted a meeting by teleconference on Thursday, August 20. The public participated by dialing into the teleconference and/or listening through the audio webcast link on the CHRB website. Vice Chairman Oscar Gonzales chaired the meeting, joined by Commissioners Dennis Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos, Wendy Mitchell, and Alex Solis.

The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief:

Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director, helped open the meeting with a discussion of the current heat wave in California and its effect on racehorses. Dr. Arthur explained that temperatures alone do not determine whether it is safe for horses to compete. He described the Heat Stress Index (HSI) as a more accurate method. He sent a memo this week to horsemen, track management, stewards, and veterinarians reminding them of how to use HSI and when to undertake heat-stress mitigation steps. That memo is posted on the CHRB website under Racing Safety.
The Board approved the license application for the Los Angeles Turf Club (LATC) to conduct a race meet at Santa Anita Park, with racing commencing Saturday, September 19, through Sunday, October 25. Aiden Butler, director of racing at Santa Anita, said although racing concludes September 7 at Del Mar, Santa Anita will be delaying the start of its meet by more than a week to give horses a rest and to ensure that all COVID-19 protocols are in place.
Concerning that meet at Santa Anita, the Board approved an agreement between LATC and the Thoroughbred Owners of California authorizing the racing secretary to set conditions on races, which will include limitations on Lasix and intra-articular medications.
Vice Chair Gonzales and Commissioner Mitchell reported on their Wednesday teleconference meeting of the Race Dates Committee. They indicated there is general agreement among stakeholders for 2021 date allocations, aside from a week here and there. If there is no agreement on those weeks, the committee will make a recommendation in the best interests of the racing industry at the September 24 meeting.
The Board authorized an exemption for fire clearance approval at Los Alamitos and an extension for such approval at San Luis Rey Downs training center based on evidence that both had clearances from local fire authorities, so the allowances only pertained to additional regulatory requirements.
The Board approved for 45-day public notice a proposed regulation establishing rules for public participation at meetings, which largely reflect the procedures that currently are in place, including limiting unsolicited speakers to two minutes each on agenda items.
The Board approved a requirement for practicing veterinarians to use an electronic on-line form prescribed by the Board when submitting their required veterinarian reports to the Official Veterinarian.
The Board approved an emergency amendment to better align CHRB drug classifications with those of the Association of Racing Commissioners International.
The Board approved the re-election of three directors to the board of the California Thoroughbred Horsemen's Foundation: Angie Carmona, Dr. Victor Levine, and Eric Sindler.
The Board authorized Fasig-Tipton Co. to conduct a horse auction sale at Fairplex Park on October 19.

Public comments made during the meeting can be accessed through the meeting audio archive on the CHRB website.

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‘A Great Mind’: $3.65 Million Purchase Cezanne Will Try Two-Turn Allowance Before Derby Prep

A $3.65 million 2-year-old at last spring's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale, Cezanne lived up to early expectations when breaking his maiden on debut earlier this month at Santa Anita Park. For his second start, the 3-year-old son of Curlin will step up to two turns in a one-mile allowance race at Los Alamitos this Thursday.

Trained by Bob Baffert for owners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and St. Elias Stable, Cezanne is out of the Bernardini mare Achieving. His third dam is the Deputy Minister mare Better Than Honour, the dam of Belmont Stakes winners Jazil and Rags to Riches.

In his debut, the colt sat just off the pace before making his bid between rivals on the turn, then pulling away down the lane to win by 2 1/4 lengths, completing 6 1/2 furlongs on the fast main track in 1:16.13. Since that start, Cezanne has breezed twice at Santa Anita, going five furlongs in 1:01.80 on June 22 and a half-mile in :48 flat on June 28.

“He's still a little heavy,” Baffert told the Daily Racing Form. “More racing will help him. He's shown us he's a top horse. He's got a great mind and doesn't get excited. He's been behaving himself.”

Should his two-turn debut prove successful, Cezanne could be considered for a Kentucky Derby prep race, said Baffert.

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