santa anita | Horse Racing Free Tips

Charlatan ‘Healthy’ For Highly-Anticipated Matchup With Nashville In Saturday’s Malibu

Charlatan, one in a battalion of bluebloods based in Bob Baffert's barn, faces off against Nashville in the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26, the marquee event as historic Santa Anita ushers in its 84th season of world-class racing.

This year's Malibu is arguably one of the most anticipated in the event's 70 runnings, pitting two immensely talented sons of 2004 Eclipse Award champion male sprinter Speightstown against one another.

The Malibu has been won in the past by a Who's Who of Thoroughbreds, among them Runhappy (2015), Ferdinand (1986), Precisionist (1984), Spectacular Bid (1980), Ancient Title (1974), Damascus (1968), Buckpasser (1966) Native Diver (1962), Olden Times (1961), Hillsdale (1958), Round Table (1957) Determine (1955) and Calumet Farm's star filly A Gleam (1953).

Last year it was won by star-crossed Omaha Beach, whose potential for further greatness on the track ended when he was retired to stud after a filling in his right hind leg prevented him from running in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 25 of this year.

Santa Anita's traditional opening day is saturated with stakes, six in all, three of them Grade 1's: the $300,000 Malibu for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs; the $300,000 La Brea for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs; and the $300,000 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 ¼ miles on turf.

The Malibu, La Brea and American Oaks are the final three Grade 1 stakes to be run in the United States this year.

First post time on opening day will be 11 a.m.

Charlatan, a $700,000 chestnut colt, finished first in each of his three starts by a combined margin of 22 lengths but was disqualified from his six-length triumph in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby May 2 on a medication violation. He has not raced since but is firing bullets for his return, a display as synonymous with Baffert as his signature white hair.

Through Dec. 6, Baffert led all trainers in Grade 1 wins this year with 15, four more than Chad Brown.

”Charlatan is doing really well,” said Baffert, who will be seeking his fourth Malibu victory, having won in 2018 with McKinzie, 2013 with Shakin It Up and 2011 with The Factor. “You can only do so much coming off a layoff going seven eighths…

“He's healthy and that's the main thing; he should run well.”

Baffert had to stop on Charlatan after May 2 due to a minor filling in a front ankle that he described at the time as “not even a flake.”

Saturday at Santa Anita, Charlatan worked five furlongs in :59.80, a tad off the time of Malibu contender Independence Hall, who went the same distance in a bullet :59 flat for Michael McCarthy.

Baffert also plans to run multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words in the Malibu with John Velazquez aboard. Thousand Words last raced Oct. 3 in the Preakness, finishing eighth after pressing the pace. The son of Pioneerof the Nile has been working lights out for the Malibu, as two bullet breezes on Nov. 12 and Nov. 28 would attest, in addition to his five-furlong drill Friday in 59.80.

Nashville, a bay colt trained by Steve Asmussen, also has had three starts, winning by a combined margin of nearly 25 lengths, including the restricted Perryville at Keeneland by 3 ½ lengths on Nov. 7, in which he set a track record for six furlongs of 1:07.89. He has been working brilliantly since, including a bullet five furlongs in a minute flat, breezing, at Fair Grounds on Dec. 1.

Nashville is owned by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm and was bought for $460,000 by CHC and Maverick Racing, the purchasing arm of WinStar, from the Lane's End consignment to the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

He will be ridden by 28-year-old Ricardo Santana Jr. from the Panamanian town of El Chorrillo. Santana, a 2008 graduate of the Laffit Pincay Jr. school for jockeys in Panama, also will do honors for Asmussen on Finite in the La Brea.

Strongly supporting the Malibu, La Brea and American Oaks are the Grade 2, $200,000 San Antonio Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles, a major steppingstone to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6; the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf; and the grassy $75,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile. Overall, $1,375,000 in stakes money will be up for grabs.

Baffert has four horses nominated to the La Brea and plans to run all four: Merneith, who worked five furlongs Saturday in :59.80; Golden Principal, Himiko and Provocation. Himiko breezed four furlongs in :48 flat and Provocation in :47.40, both on Sunday, while Golden Principal went six furlongs Friday in 1:13.20.

Santa Anita's stakes spectacular continues on Sunday with the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares, three and up at 1 1/8 miles on turf and the $75,000 Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on the grass.

The post Charlatan ‘Healthy’ For Highly-Anticipated Matchup With Nashville In Saturday’s Malibu appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Free Analysis: Jeff Siegel Provides Daily Column, Workout Report For Santa Anita Horseplayers

Daily race-by-race workout information, always a vital tool in the handicapping process, will be available to Santa Anita horse players as part Jeff Siegel's Daily Analysis & Wagering Strategies column when racing resumes on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26 at the Great Race Place.

A part of the XBTV team, Siegel is widely-regarded as the West Coast's most astute veteran handicapper. His column will be accessible at santaanita.com or xpressbet.com every race day morning as a PDF document that can viewed, printed, or downloaded. The Santa Anita Workout Report will highlight recent drills from “In Today” runners and will include commentary, digitally-timed interior fractions, graded analysis and links to the video of the workouts that are housed in the extensive xbtv.com library.

“This new analytic tool will describe and evaluate each listed drill with the written word but, more importantly, it will easily allow the reader to view many of the actual workouts and form his or her own opinions,“ said Siegel, who was the first to publish workout reports back in the 1970s after co-founding Handicapper's Report. “The Santa Anita Workout Report should be an invaluable reference source for the serious player.”

The daily morning tab at Santa Anita often contains a hundred or more officially-timed workouts, especially on weekends. “Because of the sheer volume, it is difficult to record them all,” said Siegel, “but, truthfully, some workouts are benign, simply for maintenance, and are of little consequence to the handicapping process. The XBTV team focuses on those runners that hold the most interest to the horseplayer, such as maidens, horses returning from layoffs, those in gate drills, and stakes performers.”

The Santa Anita Workout Report, along with Siegel's popular Daily Analysis & Wagering Strategies, will be posted no later than 6 a.m. PDT each racing day and often times the evening before to allow horse players sufficient time to incorporate the information into their handicapping.

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Santa Anita’s Free Online ‘Showvivor’ Handicapping Challenge Returns With $5,000 Prize Money

Santa Anita's popular free online “Showvivor” marks its return on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26, with a new Total Win Earnings category and a Monthly Contest provision which will be included in the existing season-long total prize money awarded of $5,000.

With special early first post on opening day pegged at 11 a.m., the contest offers fans a variety of cash incentives, highlighted by the $2,500 top prize, which will be awarded to the longest “Show Streak” over the course of the entire Winter/Spring season which culminates on June 20.

Registration at showvivor.santaanita.com is free and easy and Showvivor participants can select one horse from one race each racing day. That horse must run no worse than third in order for the player to “Showvive.” If the player's selection fails to run 1-2-3, that individual is not totally eliminated, as he or she may start up a new streak the next racing day. The player with the longest “Show Streak” on June 20 will be declared the top prize winner of $2,500.

The longest “Show Streak” is just one of five separate says to win beginning Dec. 26.

SHOW STREAK The player that has the longest “show” or no-worse than third place finish streak at the end of the Winter/Spring Meet will win the Grand Prize of $2,500. Players are advised that if they fail to make an online selection on a given day, their streak is still alive, but they will not receive credit for any days missed.

WIN STREAK This carries a $1,000 prize and is intended to reward players who have selected the most consecutive first place finishers. If a player fails to make a selection on a given day, his or her streak may continue, but the player will not receive credit for any days missed.

TOTAL WINS On closing day, June 20, the player that has selected the most total wins will receive a $500 prize.

HIGHEST SINGLE WIN PAYOUT This carries a $500 prize and will be awarded to the player with the single highest win payout (on a Two Dollar wager) over the course of the entire meet.

TOTAL WIN EARNINGS This is a new Showvivor category which carries a prize of $500 and is awarded to the player that accumulates the highest total dollar amount-won based on their selections at the end of the meet. For example, each time an entrant's selection finishes in first place in the official standings (Wins), the dollar amount, based on Santa Anita's official Two Dollar Win payout, will be added to that player's total money-won to date. The winner will be determined on closing day.

MONTHLY CONTEST, NEW WAY TO WIN Separated into five different date ranges, beginning Dec. 26 through Jan. 31, and ending June 4 through June 20, the winner, by Total Monthly Win Earnings, of each of these individual calendar periods earns an entry into the next $500 Live Money Handicapping Contest via Xpressbet and thus an opportunity to compete for more cash and prizes. No exchanges are offered.

Entries for opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26, will be taken this Monday, Dec. 21. For additional information on ShowVivor, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

The post Santa Anita’s Free Online ‘Showvivor’ Handicapping Challenge Returns With $5,000 Prize Money appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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No Lasix for Most Santa Anita, Del Mar, Golden Gate Stakes in 2021

Lasix will now be barred through at least 2021 in the vast majority of stakes races at California’s three major commercial tracks–Santa Anita Park, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and Golden Gate Fields.

The Lasix ban was part of a revised race-day medication agreement between the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) and the managements of those three tracks.

The California Horse Racing Board voted unanimously Dec. 17 to approve the terms of that medication agreement for the upcoming Santa Anita and Golden Gate meets. The Del Mar-specific commission approval will presumably come up for a vote closer to the start of that meet in July.

The agreement also includes language mandating a stand-down period for intra-articular injections, a rule that has been agreed to among the parties and approved by the CHRB since March 2019.

An exception to the no-Lasix rule was written into the agreement that will allow the drug’s usage in California-bred stakes races for 4-year-olds and up, so long as that provision is agreed to in writing by the TOC and the track hosting the stakes race.

In a separate vote, the CHRB unanimously advanced a set of proposed rule amendments that deal with the requirements for horses being on and getting removed from the state veterinarian’s restricted list.

The changes were largely administrative and were proposed for the purpose of bringing the CHRB’s rules into alignment with Assembly Bill 1974, which was signed into law Sept. 29 to “protect and advance the health, safety, welfare, and aftercare of racehorses.”

That new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2021.

Pending a final vote after the public commentary period, one of the key provisions that will be changed in CHRB’s related Rule 1688 will be that, “The official veterinarian may require any horse on the Veterinarian’s List to undergo diagnostic procedures, including, but not limited to, diagnostic imaging, endoscopy, and biological sample analysis as part of their veterinary examination prior to being allowed to train or race…”

The revised version of Rule 1866 goes on to state that the owners of the horse desiring to get off the vet’s list shall “pay all costs associated with the administration of diagnostic imaging.”

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