Out of necessity, Clovisconnection will have his first start of 2025 in the $125,000 California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Jan. 11.
Trained by Blaine Wright for owners and breeders Bill and Judy Hedrick, Clovisconnection has won 11 of 17 starts, but has raced primarily at tracks in Northern California and at Emerald Downs in Washington state.
The Cal Cup Sprint for statebreds at six furlongs will be Clovisconnection’s third start in Southern California. He was fifth in the 2023 Echo Eddie Stakes for statebred 3-year-old sprinters, and a third in the Sensational Star Stakes for statebreds at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course last March in his first start of 2024.
In the Cal Cup Sprint, one of five stakes for statebreds on the Jan. 11 program, Clovisconnection will race against Big City Lights, a four-time stakes winner trained by Richard Mandella who was second in the 2023 Cal Cup Sprint. Big City Lights won the Cary Grant Stakes for statebred sprinters at Del Mar in November.
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Wright is banking on Clovisconnection’s three stakes wins last year, and a game third in the Sensational Star last March, to give the 5-year-old gelding a chance.
“When he ran down the hill, he ran a pretty dang good race to be third,” Wright said on Friday. “He hasn’t faced the likes of Mandella’s horse yet.
“It’s the best spot we can pick and it’s been on our radar for sometimes.”
The race will not include The Chosen Vron, the 2023 California-bred Horse of the Year, who has won the last two runnings of the Cal Cup Sprint. The Chosen Vron is being given a wintertime rest.
Clovisconnection worked five furlongs at Santa Anita in 1:00 on Monday and will have another work on Monday before the Cal Cup Sprint.
Clovisconnection won the Harris Farms Stakes for statebreds in Fresno and the Oakland Stakes at Pleasanton in his final two starts of 2024. There is no racing at Pleasanton this winter, or in the foreseeable future in Northern California, leaving trainers from that circuit, such as Wright, to seek other options.
Several have sent horses to Southern California, including Wright, who also shipped runners to Turf Paradise in Phoenix. Wright has also been a fixture at Emerald Downs since 2007.
Wright plans to send “three or four” horses to Santa Anita on Monday, but does not plan to have a large presence in Southern California.
“We’ll see if we can make a go of this thing,” he said.
The lack of a future for racing in Northern California is leading to rapid change, Wright said, mentioning stable staffing and the way owners are approaching the sport.
“These are trying times for a lot of people; not just trainers, but owners,” he said. “I had to lay four people off at the end of December, that’s something I haven’t had to do since 2010 or 2011. I’ve had a crew with me for a long time. It works on your mind.
“I’m down to 12 horses. I’m keeping a skeleton crew.”
Wright said he has 25 other horses resting in advance of the Emerald Downs meeting. The track opens for training there in late February.
“I can regroup,” Wright said. “There are a lot of people that are not in that situation.”
Last month, Pleasanton concluded a nine-week meeting designed to replace racing dates previously conducted at Golden Gate Fields, which closed permanently in June.
The Pleasanton meeting had lower-than-expected business results, leading to an arrangement between officials with Santa Anita in Southern California and backers of the Pleasanton meeting to provide racing opportunities in Southern California for northern-based stables in exchange for no wintertime racing at Pleasanton.
Under the arrangement, Northern California-based stables are being compensated for sending horses to race at Santa Anita while training at Pleasanton.
This weekend, there are two races on Friday and two races on Sunday restricted to horses from Northern California, or stables based there. Wright had Warrens World entered in one of those races on Friday.
More such races are needed to provide northern-based stables with a reason to remain in California, Wright said.
“It’s hard to talk owners into staying,” Wright said. “Hopefully, they can get more Northern California races to fill. We can run against our own.
“If we’re forced into racing in open company, there are a significant number of horses that will not be able to compete.”
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