The downhill turf course will get some work today.
A pair of stakes await bettors Saturday at Santa Anita - and both will begin on the downhill turf course. The Irish O’Brien will go off in race 7, a sprint down the hill for Cal-breds. The closer is the mile and a half San Luis Rey, one of the longest races run annually at Santa Anita.
Let’s meet the field, and put together our weekly wager. If you’re wagering on Santa Anita, check out AmWager! They have a 100% deposit match up to $150 for new customers!
Grade 3 San Luis Rey. 1 ½ miles, downhill turf. 4+up. $100,000.
1. Flashiest. 12/1. Jockey: Armando Ayuso. Trainer: Leonard Powell.
Flashiest will head to the gate for the 38th start of his career in the San Luis Rey, an 8-year-old son of Mizzen Mast. He’s found his best in recent races, as trainer Leonard Powell has added distance to each successive run. The longer, the better - and the good news here - is that we’re going 12 furlongs. He’s easily the likeliest of the longshots, and a must include in multi-race wagers, as he’s likely to offer major value.
Comment: live longshot.
2. Truly Quality. 5/2. Jockey: Antonio Fresu. Trainer: Jonathan Thomas.
Trainer Jonathan Thomas has Truly Quality in great form, a win and two 3rd place finishes in his last 3 races, all stakes. His performance last out in the San Marcos left very little to be desired, and he is almost certainly the winner if that race is run at today’s distance. He’s the most likely winner in a field of potential winners.
Comment: most likely winner.
3. Balnikhov. 9/2. Jockey: Juan Hernandez. Trainer: Phil D’Amato.
Balnikhov is another old vet in this field - he heads to the gate for the 39th time today. I think there’s a real argument that he just ran the best race of career last out in the McKnight at Gulfstream Park. In a field of likely winners, he has just one win over the last few years, and that was his only race on lasix. We’ll reluctantly toss him here.
Comment: reluctant toss.
4. Gold Phoenix. 7/5. Jockey: Hector Berrios. Trainer: Phil D’Amato.
Gold Phoenix just ran in his 30th race, a poor 7th place finish as the favorite in the aforementioned San Marcos. The troubling part of that race: Gold Phoenix was part of the lead group, but had no late kick whatsoever. He’s second up in the form cycle, so I expect him to run better - trainer Phil D’Amato’s hit at a solid 19% off these types of layoffs - and most aren’t of Gold Phoenix’s quality. Look for a bounce back run today.
Comment: include.
5. Mondego. 6/1. Jockey: Emisael Jaramillo. Trainer: Michael McCarthy.
Mondego was the winner of the San Marcos, continuing a terrific set of performances in high level stakes. It’s rare that distance horses win back-to-back races, but there was nothing fluky about Mondego’s previous outing. This is an extremely similar amount of time as between his last two races, and his work pattern likewise similar. A must include in multi-race sequences.
Comment: include.
6. City Exile. 20/1. Jockey: Tiago Pereira. Trainer: George Papaprodromou.
City Exile will try to repeat his form from the May 2025 Grade 2 Whittingham, where he was amongst a blanket finish over Santa Anita’s turf course. He hasn’t been able to recapture that form recently, and it’s hard to see him jumping up against this group.
Comment: toss.
7. Living Life. 30/1. Jockey: Ricardo Gonzalez. Trainer: Ronald Ellis.
Living Life is the longest shot on the board. His last win came in March of 2024, and he has 2 total wins in 17 starts. Toss.
Comment: toss.
8. Watsonville. 12/1. Jockey: Mike Smith. Trainer: Mark Glatt.
Watsonville is an interesting entrant here, as this is considerably further than any distance he has tried thus far in his 14 race career. He’s a balanced runner, keeping mostly the same pace throughout - I imagine this is trainer Mark Glatt’s motivation here, hoping to simply plod his way over the 12 furlongs to a win. I don’t see it happening, but it’s at least conceptually valid.
Comment: toss.
The Sporting Tribune Play:
$3 Turf Pick 3, starts Race 5 ($36): 1,5,6 / 1 / 1,2,4,5.