Happy Birthday celebrations are coming up for all Thoroughbreds in North America. On January 1st, our country’s race horses will all turn one year older, as does this blog, Thoroughbred U. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing weekly over the past 2 years and am readily looking forward to all that 2017 has to bring. Not to delay, the first day of 2017 brings us an opportunity to indulge in one of our very favorite sports, horse racing. When your eating your traditional cabbage, potatoes and black-eyed peas you’ll be getting lucky. No better way to test that new luck than a wager in the San Pasqual Stakes!
Santa Anita, now in Arcadia, California, was first constructed in 1907. It has experienced many changes but has retained a strong and rich racing history. In 1935 the Santa Anita Handicap was inaugurated. This race has seen many famous contenders. That same year, the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes got its start. This stakes race has proven to be a great prep race for many fine horses.
The 2017 edition of the San Pasqual will take place on 1/1/17 at 4 P.M. live in California or at 7 P.M. in my EST zone. Gates open at 10:30 A.M. and the 1st race is at 12:30 P.M. The 8th race on a card of 9 is the San Pasqual. It is a dirt race of 1 and 1/16 miles, 8.5 furlongs, for Thoroughbreds 4 years and older. The purse is set at $200,000. Last year, California Chrome won the San Pasqual and began a fantastic streak of many wins.
In the history of the San Pasqual, Bob Baffert is the trainer with the most wins. He started gathering his San Pasqual successes in 1999 with Silver Charm. I visited Silver Charm on one warm and wet day where he lives at Old Friends in Kentucky. Baffert won again in 2002 and 2003 with Wooden Phone and Congaree respectively. He won in 2013 with Coil and in 2015 with Hoppertunity. This year he has hopes of winning again with the favorite, Arrogate. Then he plans to race Arrogate against the amazing California Chrome in the first ever, Pegasus World Cup on 1/28/17 at Gulfstream Park, in Florida.
The 2017 running of the San Pasqual Stakes has a small field as follows by post position/horse/jockey/trainer/owner/and morning line odds:
- Prospect Park/Norberto Arroyo, Jr./Clifford w. Sise, Jr./Pam and Martin Wygod/10/1
- Accelerate/Tyler Baze/John W. Sadler/Hronis Racing, LLC./8/1
- Dalmore/Kent Desormeaux/J. Keith Desormeaux/Big Chief Racing, Head of PlainsPartners, LLC., Rocker O Ranch, LLC, et al./20/1
- Midnight Storm/Rafael Bejarano/Philip D’ Amato/A Venneri Racing, Inc. and Little Red Feather Racing/4/1
- Arrogate/Mike E. Smith/Bob Baffert/Juddmonte Farms/1/5
Prospect Park is sired by Tapit, though he is not grey himself. His dam is Quiet Romance and he was foaled in 2012. He has only won 3 of his 14 starts and none of those wins were made in 2016. He has raced exclusively in CA and many times at Santa Anita.
Accelerate is the 2013 offspring of Lookin at Lucky and Issues. He has 2 stakes races in his career, the The Los Alamitos Derby Stakes, where he won and the BC Dirt Mile where he finished 3rd. He has finished first in 3 of his 7 races.
Dalmore has a record of 3 wins in 14 starts, just like Prospect Park. Dalmore is the product of Colonel John and Silver Breeze, delivered in 2013. He frequents the CA racing circuit and he won the Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita on 7/2/16.
Midnight Storm was born to Pioneer of The Nile and My Tina in 2011. He has won 9 of 20 starts and his last 5 starts were in California. He last raced at Del Mar in the Native Diver Stakes on 11/27/16 and he won after finishing 3rd in the BC Mile earlier that month. It find it noteworthy that Native Diver won the San Pasqual in 1966.
Arrogate was foaled to Unbridled’s Song and Bubbler in 2013. He is a lovely grey horse. He has won the last 5 of his 6 races, 3 of those wins were at Santa Anita. 2 of his wins were in stakes races, The Traver’s Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He had a work out on 12/27/16 and he was looking fine covering 6 furlongs in 1.12:20.
Happy New Year, Happy birthday and all the other happy that I wish for each of you! May all of you have safe passage into the new year and many blessings throughout. I’ll continue to post my Thoroughbred thoughts and experiences as we continue to grow.
Update: Arrogate scratched due to rain.
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