Santa Anita starts winter-spring meet with high stakes

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Six graded stakes item Sunday’s opening-day programme arsenic Santa Anita begins its 85th winter-spring meet, but 1 successful peculiar offers an intriguing matchup connected the 11-race card.

The $300,000 Grade I Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds astatine 7 furlongs pits Dr. Schivel, a hard-luck loser successful past fall’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint astatine Del Mar, versus the unbeaten, but untested, Flightline.

Flightline is the 4-5 morning-line favorite, but Dr. Schivel astatine 5-2 is much seasoned, having won 5 of 8 starts, including 2 Grade Is and a Grade II. He got caught successful the past leap astatine the Breeders’ Cup, losing by a chemoreceptor to Aloha West.

Flightline, connected the different hand, is 2 for 2, winning a maiden peculiar value and an optional claimer by a combined 26 lengths. The Malibu is the stakes debut for a colt trainer John Sadler has labeled “the champion imaginable I’ve had” during his 43 years grooming thoroughbreds.

“Strategy volition beryllium connected a batch of antithetic things,” Dr. Schivel’s trainer, Mark Glatt, told Ed Golden of Santa Anita publicity. “The station presumption is 1 strategy factor, but we’ll conscionable instrumentality our champion shot. He’s a very, precise bully horse.”

Dr. Schivel drew the No. 4 station with Flightline close connected his extracurricular successful the No. 5 hole.

Flavien Prat, the runaway victor arsenic apical jockey during past year’s winter-spring meet, had his prime of which colt helium wanted to thrust and chose Flightline. Juan Hernandez, who rode Dr. Schivel erstwhile helium broke his maiden successful August 2020 astatine Del Mar, jumps backmost aboard the Violence colt.

Said Sadler of Flightline: “He’s conscionable 1 of those horses that truly is an astonishing horse.”

The colt’s co-owner, Kosta Hronis of Hronis Racing, was adjacent much effusive successful his praise aft a 12 3/4-length triumph astatine Del Mar connected Sept. 5 erstwhile Flightline ran 6 furlongs successful 1:08.05 implicit a way that hadn’t been producing speedy times.

“He’s special. That’s a peculiar horse,” helium said.

Just however peculiar we mightiness larn successful the Malibu, which besides drew the Bob Baffert-trained Triple Tap, unbeaten successful 2 starts. The lad of Tapit volition beryllium ridden by John Velazquez, who’s moved his concern westbound for the archetypal time, astatine slightest done the extremity of March. He drew the cozy extracurricular station successful the seven-horse field.

Baby Yoda, a Bill Mott-trained gelding who registered a 114 Beyer Speed Figure portion winning an allowance contention astatine Saratoga connected Sept. 4, drew the obstruction and volition beryllium ridden by Jose Ortiz.

The $200,000 Grade II San Antonio Stakes marks the instrumentality of Hot Rod Charlie, 4th successful the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The colt’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, said he’s got Charlie cranked for a apical effort, but that the eventual short-term extremity is the $12 cardinal Dubai World Cup connected March 26.

“The plan, post-San Antonio, is much than apt get connected a level and instrumentality him to Dubai successful the mediate of January truthful helium tin person a prep contention determination for the World Cup,” O’Neill said.

Hot Rod Charlie, the 6-5 morning-line favorite, volition look six rivals, including Express Train, Azul Coast and Eight Rings. Flavien Prat has the mount.

There are 2 different $300,000 Grade I races that item Santa Anita’s opening, including the La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies and the American Oaks, a 1 1/4-mile turf contention for sophomore fillies.

Also connected pat are a brace of $200,000 Grade II events connected the writer – the Mathis Mile and the San Gabriel Stakes.

First station is 11 a.m. Sunday. There is peculiar racing Monday and Santa Anita volition past beryllium acheronian until Thursday.