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Santa Anita Launches ‘The Tin Man Turf Starter Distance Series’ This Saturday

Santa Anita's inaugural “The Tin Man Turf Starter Distance Series” will debut this Saturday, as older horses will be provided an opportunity to run in a series of four races, beginning at a mile and one eighth on up to a mile and three quarters on grass. In addition to the opportunity to earn substantial purse money, horses will also be competing to earn a free berth in a pair of marathon turf stakes, either the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes May 29, or the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes on June 20.

The series is named in honor of Ralph and Aury Todd's homebred son of Affirmed, The Tin Man, who was foaled in 1998 and raced through age nine in 2007. Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, The Tin Man was a multiple graded stakes winner who was a two time Grade 1 winner at age nine. Retired following his 9-year-old campaign, The Tin Man banked more than $3.6 million.

Leg One of The Tin Man series on Saturday will be contested at a mile and one eighth on turf. Leg Two, on Feb. 20, will be run at a mile and one quarter, Leg Three, on March 20 will be run at a mile and one half and the fourth leg will be contested at a mile and three quarters down Santa Anita's Camino Real Hillside Turf Course on April 17.

The Tin Man Starter Distance Series will be open to older horses which have started for a claiming tag of $40,000 or less from 2019 to the present.

“Our hope is that this distance series will serve as a throwback to some of the legendary horses that have competed here at Santa Anita and that these races are going to provide good betting opportunities,” said Santa Anita's Director of Racing and Racing Secretary Chris Merz. “I think our fans and horsemen are going to be excited to see these races run over the downhill Camino Real Course, which has such a rich history.”

Entries for this Saturday at Santa Anita will be taken Wednesday morning. Although there is still no public admittance, fans can view all Santa Anita races free of charge at santaanita.com/live and they can watch and wager via several ADW platforms, including 1st.com/Bet.

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Mucho Unusual Handles Compact Field In Megahertz Stakes

Although spring training in Arizona and Florida is a month and a half away, George Krikorian's homebred Mucho Unusual nonetheless took a base on balls Monday at Santa Anita, as she powered to a three-quarter-length win at odds of 2-5 in the Grade 3, $100,000 Megahertz Stakes. Trained by Tim Yakteen and ridden by Joel Rosario, the 5-year-old California-bred mare by Mucho Macho Man got one mile on turf and thus became the Arcadia, Calif., track Winter Meet's first two-time stakes winner in the process.

With a pair of program scratches reducing the field of older fillies and mares to four, Mucho Unusual broke alertly from her number three post and was immediately lapped on Chilean import Brooke, who went straight to the lead from her rail post.

Second, while a measured three quarters of a length off the leader at the three-furlong pole, Mucho Unusual drew alongside leaving the quarter pole and was carried out to the four-path by Brooke at the top of the lane. From there, Mucho Unusual leveled nicely, put away the pacesetter leaving the furlong pole and easily held sway near the wire as Sedamar mounted a late rally.

An impressive three-quarter-length winner of the G3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on turf here on Dec. 27, Mucho Unusual paid $2.80 and $2.10, with no show wagering.

“She's super honest, we're excited to have her in the stable, (it's been) just a great ride,” said Yakteen, who saddled Mucho Unusual for the 19th time on Monday. “We were thinking about keeping her at a mile and one eighth, mile and a quarter, unfortunately, there really wasn't anything coming up until the end of March, so we thought we would take advantage of a lighter field.”

Out of Krikorian's Unusual Heat mare Not Unusual, Mucho Unusual, a winner of the G1 Rodeo Drive Stakes three starts back at a mile and one quarter on turf Sept. 26, registered her fourth graded stakes win (fifth overall) and improved her career mark to 19-7-3-4. With the winner's share of $60,000, she increased her earnings to $822,715.

“I just got a good break and see what I had,” said Rosario. “I went to the first turn and it looked like the one horse (Brooke) really wanted to go to the lead, so I just waited behind (her) a little bit. This horse is really good…Thank you to the team and to George (Krikorian) for the opportunity.”

Sedamar, like the winner, a Cal-bred, was an attentive fourth early and was carried five wide turning for home while rallying as second-best. Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Sedamar was off at 7-2 and paid $2.60 to show while finishing a half length in front of Brooke.

Ridden by her regular rider in Chile, Jeremy Laprida, Brooke, who was off at 4-1 in her U.S. debut, came back to the rail after drifting out at the top of the stretch, taking the path of Colonial Creed and Flavien Prat a furlong out. As a result of this interference, Brooke was disqualified by the stewards and placed last.

Fractions on the race were 23.78, 48.00, 1:12.55 and 1:24.43.

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Late-Developing Idol, Runner-Up In San Antonio, Has Connections Thinking Big ‘Cap

Richard Baltas, an active participant at Santa Anita Park's entry box, has San Antonio runner-up Idol pointed to the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Jan. 30, a major steppingstone to the G1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.

Owned by Calvin Nguyen, the son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin had won two overnight races at Churchill Downs by daylight margins as a 3-year-old before tackling older in the San Antonio on Dec. 26.

Out of stakes-winning A.P. Indy mare Marion Ravenwood, Idol commanded a final bid of $375,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The late-developing colt did not debut until Sept. 5 of his sophomore season, then broke his maiden and won an allowance, both at Churchill Downs, by a combined 8 1/4 lengths. Idol's second-place finish in the San Antonio came in just his fourth career start.

Through 12 racing days, Baltas has run 42 horses to rank third behind perennial category leader Doug O'Neill (55) and Peter Miller (44).

Meanwhile, Venetian Harbor is “almost ready to come in” from Kentucky after a three-month freshening following her race in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 6, in which she finished far back after attending the pace early in the seven-furlong event.

“We gave her 90 days off at the farm and she's coming back into training,” Baltas said of the daughter of Munnings, winner of two Grade 2 stakes last year, the Las Virgenes at Santa Anita and the Raven Run at Keeneland.

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$481,864 Santa Anita Single Ticket Rainbow Pick 6 Jackpot On Monday’s Holiday Card

With special Martin Luther King Jr. Day racing available at Santa Anita on Monday, there is a sizable carryover of $481,864 into the day's 20-cent Single Ticket Rainbow Pick 6 Jackpot. First post time for a nine-race card is at 12:30 p.m. PT and the Rainbow 6 will be comprised of races four through nine.

Approximate post time for Monday's fourth race is at 2:03 p.m. PT.

With a Jackpot carryover of $415,148 coming into Sunday, $291,426 in new money was bet into the popular wager, creating a total Rainbow 6 pool of $706,574. There were 81 consolation tickets with six winners today, resulting in a payoff of $1,936.90 each.

Entries and morning line information for all of Monday's races are available at santaanita.com.

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