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Horse racing notes: Mother Nature makes Santa Anita a safe bet for Breeders’ Cup

October 27, 2023

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

Through Thursday

JOCKEYS / WINS

Juan Hernandez / 17

Umberto Rispoli / 13

Antonio Fresu / 11

Hector Berrios / 10

Ramon Vazquez / 9

TRAINERS / WINS

Mark Glatt / 10

Philip D’Amato / 8

Peter Eurton / 8

John Sadler / 8

Three tied / 6

WEEKEND STAKES (SANTA ANITA)

Saturday

• $80,000 Lure Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf)

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Forty-one of the 205 horses pre-entered for the 40th Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4 hail from Santa Anita, according to Victor Ryan of Santa Anita publicity. This year’s Santa Anita Derby winner – Practical Move – was pre-entered in the Dirt Mile on Nov. 4. The $6 million Classic, which this year will be run as the seventh of nine Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday, will include the Bob Baffert-trained Arabian Knight, Geaux Rocket Ride (Richard Mandella) and Missed the Cut (John Sadler).

• The material for Santa Anita’s new $7 million synthetic training track, which will replace the track’s traditional sand-based training track, will begin arriving on Nov. 13. The all-weather surface, part of 1/ST Racing’s plans to make major financial investments in Southern California racing to enhance safety and wellness for horses, is expected to be popular for training turf horses in addition to horses that have been racing on synthetic surfaces. Track officials expect the project to be completed in mid-January.

• Baffert is pleased that this year’s Breeders’ Cup is at Santa Anita mostly because of Mother Nature. “I like California because of the weather. You know what you’re going to get,” he said. He doesn’t believe there’s a significant home-track advantage for local horsemen when the event is held at Santa Anita or Del Mar. “I think I’ve won more races away from here than I’ve won here,” he said. “It’s the players, the horses. You gotta have the horses. The Lakers and the Rams, they get beat at home.” Baffert’s right. He’s won 10 Breeders’ Cup races outside of California and eight locally.

— Art Wilson

Orange County Register

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Horse racing notes: Mother Nature makes Santa Anita a safe bet for Breeders’ Cup

SANTA ANITA LEADERS

WEEKEND STAKES (SANTA ANITA)

DOWN THE STRETCH

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