ARCADIA, Calif. – Popular features of the autumn meet at Santa Anita remain unchanged from a year ago, including low-takeout high-minimum double and pick three wagers and a stakes schedule front-loaded with Breeders’ Cup prep races.
Other features were scrapped. The glitzy California Crown program, inaugurated last fall with inflated stakes purses and live entertainment opening weekend, was canceled after just one year. Santa Anita stakes purses are back down to normal levels. Shaboozey is not in the house.
This fall at Santa Anita, there is less glitz and more game. The focus is on horses, including weekend stakes runners trying to recapture former glory.
Santa Anita scheduled 14 stakes for the first two weeks. On Saturday, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano should win the Grade 1 Goodwood; BC Mile runner-up Johannes returns in the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile. On Sunday, BC Sprint winner Straight No Chaser runs in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship; undefeated Cavalieri returns in the Grade 2 Zenyatta, a BC Distaff prep.
Before the stars come out this weekend, the Santa Anita autumn meet begins Friday with a no-frills program on which the priorities are handicapping and betting.
Santa Anita added a pair of 15 percent takeout wagers last fall that became instantly popular – a $5 double on the final two races and a $3 pick three on the final three. Late double pools averaged more than $140,000 last fall; late pick three pools averaged more than $150,000. The median $5 double payoff was $131; the median $3 pick three was $434. The pick six at Santa Anita is a $2 bet.
The least expensive Santa Anita wager is the 14 percent takeout early pick five, and many bettors will key race 1 starter Decapo in the maiden turf sprint on Friday. Runner-up at one mile in his comeback, Decapo shortens to six furlongs for trainer John Sadler, who is positioned for a big meet led by stable star Full Serrano.
“I’ve got a lot to run,” Sadler said. “I’m excited to be back. I love Santa Anita. This is our home course, it’s where we spend most of our time.”
Bettors will love Decapo if he defeats Reno, runner-up in both recent starts in five-furlong turf sprints at Del Mar and likely to set the pace Friday. During the 2024 fall meet, speed was not effective in six-furlong turf sprints with the rails at the outermost 30-foot setting. All seven races at the distance and rail setting were won from off the pace. The rails are at 30 feet on Friday.
Race 3 is a turf sprint for 2-year-old maiden fillies. Program favorite Umbralle, trained by Sadler, finished third and second in her first two starts at Del Mar. Her main rival Friday is well-bred firster Ramayana, an Uncle Mo filly produced by Grade 1 winner Miss Temple City.
Trainer Richard Mandella said Ramayana “might want farther, but she trains pretty nice. She trains pretty smart.”
The filly’s dam, Miss Temple City, won three Grade 1 turf miles and won her career debut in a sprint. Ramayana “trains like she might, too,” Mandella said.
Ramayana is part of a field that includes fast-working firster Surfin’ U. S. A. and Essential Lady, a sibling to top-class turf sprinter Golden Pal.
Race 7 is the Friday feature, a six-furlong turf sprint for California-bred fillies and mares that is the first leg of the late pick three. Program favorite Lady Gregory is the horse to beat, having won the condition in spring and entered Friday for the optional $20,000 claim tag. But the value might be lightly raced Magical Miss at 5-1. She won impressively first out, then ran sixth as the favorite.
“I might have run her back too quick,” trainer Richard Baltas acknowledged, referring to the 18-day turnaround. “And she didn’t get into the race. She’s a big, robust filly and looks like a dead sprinter.”
Now with a month between starts, Magical Miss should run a race similar to her impressive debut. If so, she could upset Lady Gregory.
The most important race Friday is the race 9 finale because it is the anchor leg of every multi-race wager, including the late double and pick three. The race is a $50,000 maiden-claiming turf mile for fillies and mares; career maiden Rehearsal is the most likely winner.
Rehearsal has made eight starts, including runner-up finishes in her last two at Friday’s class level.
“She’s knocking on the door, one of these days is going to be her day,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “I like that she’s given me two consecutive [good] performances. Umberto [Rispoli] knows her, he’s the one that’s gotten her to be the most consistent.”
Rehearsal, blocked from the far turn to midstretch last out, is likely to win the finale at a short price.
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