ARCADIA, Calif. – Even though it is a mere Grade 2 turf race, limited to 3-year-olds and usually with a small field, the Mathis Mile often leads to success at the highest level.
Mathis winners who subsequently won Grade 1s against older include Gio Ponti, Bowies Hero, River Boyne, Smooth Like Strait, and King of Gosford. It’s a good list.
So, is there a good horse in the Mathis this year? It might become evident Sunday, opening day at Santa Anita. Seven colts and geldings meet in the Mathis, race 5, which is scheduled to be run over a course likely to be soaked from midweek rain. Just how wet is anyone’s guess.
Namaron is the presumptive favorite in the $200,000 Mathis, a race won by favorites eight of the last 15 years. His main rivals include Maaz, Tempus Volat, Geometry, and Lyle The Crocodile.
John Sadler trains Namaron, a Group 3 winner in Germany purchased for $271,259 this year at a London auction. Hronis Racing owns the gelding, who finished a creditable third in both U.S. starts. Following the Grade 2 Twilight Derby on Oct. 25 at Santa Anita, Sadler skipped the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby over a Del Mar turf course on which Namaron had worked only okay.
“He likes this turf course [Santa Anita] a little better than Del Mar,” Sadler said, “so I decided that’s the way I’m going to play it. He’s training really well, and I’ve got [Flavien] Prat back on him, which is not going to hurt.”
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Namaron, the 3-2 program favorite, will add blinkers. Based on his races over wet ground in Germany, wet ground in California will not be an issue for Namaron.
His main rival is a rogue. Maaz, a gelding trained by Michael McCarthy, outfinished Namaron when second in the Twilight Derby, then was compromised by an equipment malfunction and a cantankerous attitude in the Hollywood Derby. Maaz finished seventh.
“His saddle slipped, and he was a lunatic to saddle,” McCarthy said. “He’s a difficult horse to be around, not very easy on himself. Race day, he’s his own worst enemy.”
McCarthy keeps Maaz stabled at San Luis Rey Downs most of the time.
“It’s nice and quiet down there, helps him a little bit,” McCarthy said.
A deep closer, Maaz will be rolling late under Jose Ortiz.
Tempus Volat ran super finishing fourth in the Hollywood Derby. He pressed the pace, got swallowed by a trio of closers, and missed by less than two lengths.
“We let the closers get to us and we didn’t react fast enough,” trainer Leonard Powell said. “He ran a very good race and he finished in front of all the Californians. We should be placed forward” in the Mathis.
Tempus Volat will be ridden by Mirco Demuro.
Lyle The Crocodile misfired last out, due to curious strategy. A late-runner trained by Phil D’Amato, Lyle The Crocodile surprisingly set the pace in an entry-level allowance. He faded to sixth. What was he doing on the lead?
“No one knows,” D’Amato said. “There was a late scratch of the favorite, but our plan was to come from way out of it. He broke really well, and I think Kazushi [Kimura] called an audible and it was just a disaster. He’ll be coming from behind” in the Mathis.
Lyle The Crocodile is 0 for 5 in the United States, but with any luck, a pair of third-place finishes at Del Mar could have been wins. He broke poorly in the Oceanside Stakes in summer; he had traffic trouble in the Let It Ride Stakes in fall. Umberto Rispoli is his rider.
An upset candidate is Geometry, who finished last in the Let It Ride.
“He had a very troubled trip into the first turn. He checked badly and basically was eliminated,” trainer Jonathan Thomas noted.
Geometry, previously a close fourth in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, will be ridden by Joel Rosario. Blinkers are off.
The field also includes Thomas-trained Hiding in Honduras and Richard Baltas-trained Friendly Confines.
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