The $100,000 John Shear Stakes for 3-year-old turf sprinters Sunday at Santa Anita marks a change from recent starts for race favorite Artislas, who has thrived in one-mile races.
Artislas won his career debut in a maiden race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar last August, showing an off-the-pace rally that has become commonplace in his brief career.
The distance of the Shear, at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, is new for Artistlas, who races for Irving Ventures and Dutch Girl Holdings and is trained by Jeff Mullins. A start in a sprint is a temporary change for Artislas, Mullins said earlier this week.
“This is going to be the race that gets us going again,” Mullins said. “I think he’s better going two turns.”
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The Shear is the main race on a 12-race program on the final day of the winter-spring meeting. The track’s spring meeting begins April 18.
On Sunday, there are mandatory payouts in the pick six, the early and late pick fives, and the super high five on the day’s final race.
Artislas may really get going in the final quarter-mile of the Shear Stakes, which drew a field of seven.
Artislas’s closing style should be accommodated by a decent pace, possibly set by Supersonic Blue and Toughness, maiden race winners in their last starts.
Artislas has not raced since a win in the Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf in late December. A three-month gap between starts was not intentional.
“We had to give him a little time off,” Mullins said. “He got a little sick.”
Jockey Reylu Gutierrez has the mount on Artislas. Gutierrez, who recently began riding at Santa Anita, rode Artislas in his first four starts last summer and fall, including a win in the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf last September and the Grade 3 Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita last October when Artislas finished first but was disqualified to third for a bumping incident.
Aside from Artislas, the only other stakes winner in the Shear Stakes is the intriguing Florida shipper Incanto, who won the Texas Glitter Stakes for 3-year-olds at five furlongs on turf March 22 at Gulfstream Park.
Incanto, trained by Jose D’Angelo, closed from fifth in the final furlong to win the Texas Glitter by a neck under jockey Jorge Ruiz, who has the mount Sunday.
D’Angelo said Friday that a race on the hillside turf course should be a distance “that is perfect” for Incanto. “We decided to take a shot,” he said.
Toughness, trained by Bob Baffert, will be part of the pace. The colt won a restricted maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs on dirt in his third start Feb. 14, preceded by a fifth-place finish in a maiden race at six furlongs on turf behind Supersonic Blue on Jan. 5. Supersonic Blue should be a factor in this field but hasn’t started since that race.
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