STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2024

Photo: Sue Kawczynski/Eclipse Sportswire

• D’AMATO SHOOTS FOR STAKES DOUBLE ON CLOSING WEEKEND • HERNANDEZ HAT TRICK TIGHTENS JOCKEY’S RACE • CARRYOVER FUELS $16,351 PAYOUT IN FRIDAY’S $1 PICK 6 • CLOSING DAY SUNDAY: FIRST POST 12:30 P.M, MANDATORY PAYOUTS

D’AMATO SHOOTS FOR STAKES DOUBLE ON CLOSING WEEKEND Phil D’Amato leads all trainers at the Hollywood Meet in both total wins and stakes wins. He’ll look to add to both totals when he saddles 24 horses over the next three days at Santa Anita.

D’Amato’s starters include Musical Rhapsody in Saturday’s Possibly Perfect Stakes and Rockemperor in Sunday’s GIII San Juan Capistrano, Santa Anita’s traditional closing-day feature.

Rockemperor will look to provide D’Amato with his fourth win in the about 1 ¾-mile San Juan Capistrano on turf. He won the race twice with Acclimate in 2019 and 2021 and in 2020 with Red King.

Rockemperor, an 8-year-old gelding, has been running in graded stakes since 2019. His biggest win came in the 2021 GI Turf Classic at Belmont Park when trained by Chad Brown. Rockemperor was transferred to D’Amato earlier this year. In his first local start, the son of Holy Roman Emperor was beaten just 1 ¾ lengths in the GII Charles Whittingham by Grade I-winning stablemate Gold Phoenix.

D’Amato’s assessment is Rockemperor could have done even better.

“It was an extremely troubled trip that day,” he said. “He was about to come with a huge run and then got stopped cold for a sixteenth of a mile. He’s an old class horse. I think if he can get a good trip, he’ll be very effective. He’s been training very well.”

Rockemperor, the 3-1 third choice on the morning line, will have a new rider Sunday. Replacing Victor Espinoza is Antonio Fresu, who enters Friday as the leading rider at Santa Anita.

The San Juan Capistrano goes as the sixth race on a 12-race card Sunday. Post time is approximately 3 p.m. PT. The field in post position order: Rimprotector, Kyle Frey (6-1); Rockemperor, Antonio Fresu (3-1); Offlee Naughty, Juan Hernandez (5-2); Bee Catcher, Edwin Maldonado (12-1); Order and Law, Tyler Baze (10-1); Planetario, Hector Berrios (6-5).

Musical Rhapsody enters the Possibly Perfect at 1 ¼ miles on turf riding a two-race win streak. That’s the good news. The flip side is Musical Rhapsody (5-2) will have to deal with an old nemesis in Linda’s Gift, the 6-5 favorite. Linda’s Gift beat Musical Rhapsody in four straight races before the latter’s recent win streak.

Despite the previous lack of success against her chief rival, D’Amato is optimistic about Musical Rhapsody’s chances on Saturday.

“She’s had back-to-back nice efforts and hopefully she stays in that winning mind frame,” D’Amato said Friday morning. “Sometimes when horses can reel off consecutive victories, it propels them to even better performances.”

Musical Rhapsody’s most recent win came in the 1 ¼ miles Santa Barbara Stakes by a nose over Duvet Day, who also returns in the Possibly Perfect and is the 3-1 third choice on the morning line for trainer Michael McCarthy.

Joining Musical Rhapsody in the Possibly Perfect are stablemates Lakota Spirit (6-1) and Turnerloose (10-1).

The Possibly Perfect goes as the fifth race on an 11-race card Saturday. Post time is set for 3:02 p.m. PT. The field in post position order: Pleasant Wave, Umberto Rispoli (12-1); Turnerloose, Antonio Fresu (10-1); Linda’s Gift, Tiago Pereira (6-5); Duvet Day, Juan Hernandez (3-1); Lakota Spirit, Hector Berrios (6-1); Musical Rhapsody, Mike Smith (5-2).

HERNANDEZ HAT TRICK TIGHTENS JOCKEY’S RACE Things got considerably tighter in the race for leading rider at the Hollywood Meet after Juan Hernandez bagged a trio of wins on Thursday’s nine-race card. Entering Friday, he trails Antonio Fresu by one win in the jockey’s standings.

Hernandez on Friday won the first race aboard Tiz Happy ($21.20) for trainer Doug O’Neill, the third on Give Me The Lute ($13) for trainer Kristin Mulhall and the sixth aboard favorite Nooni ($2.40) for trainer Bob Baffert.

Hernandez now has 29 victories at the stand. The 32-year-old native of Veracruz, Mexico is seeking his sixth Santa Anita riding title.

Fresu held on to the one-win lead by earning his 30th victory in Friday’s fifth race aboard favorite Iscreamuscream ($5) for trainer Phil D’Amato. Fresu, a 32-year-old native of Italy, has been riding in the U.S. for about 14 months. He is seeking his first-ever domestic riding title.

On Friday, Fresu rides nine of 10 races. Hernandez is named on eight mounts.

First post Friday is 1 p.m.

CARRYOVER FUELS $16,351.60 PAYOUT IN FRIDAY’S $1 PICK 6 Friday’s $1 Pick Six pool, which started with a carryover of $60,769, soared to $681,601.90 by the time wagering closed for the fourth race. For the 24 tickets that successfully identified all six winners, the winning payout came back $16,351.60. The consolation payout for tickets with five winners was $130.

The winning horses in Friday’s Pick Six were #4 Demotivate ($9.40), #3 Iscreamuscream ($5), #5 Nooni ($2.40), #2 Fast Giselle ($11.40), #6 O Mandy ($9.60) and #1 Charge For Gold ($66).

Friday’s Pick Six starts with the fifth race at approximately 3:07 p.m. PT. The sequence averages 8.3 starters per race before scratches.

CLOSING DAY SUNDAY: FIRST POST 12:30 P.M., MANDATORY PAYOUTS A big 12-race card awaits horseplayers on Sunday, closing day of the 29-day Hollywood Meet. All pools including the $1 Pick Six and Super High Five will have mandatory payouts.

First post Sunday is 30 minutes earlier than usual at 12:30 p.m. PT. Admission gates will open at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday’s card includes the Cinema Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf and the GIII San Juan Capistrano at about 1 ¾ miles on turf. The Cinema goes as the fourth race at approximately 2 p.m. The San Juan Capistrano goes as the sixth race at approximately 3 p.m.

FINISH LINES: There is a Super High Five carryover of $9,051 for Friday’s card…Friday’s sixth race features the debut of Midland Money, a 2-year-old colt from the first crop of Shancelot trained by Bob Baffert. Midland Money was a $650,000 auction purchase earlier this year for owner CSLR Racing Partners. He is the 4-5 morning line favorite in the five-furlong dash on dirt…Nooni, a $1.8 million auction buy, lived up to the billing Thursday when romping by 9 ½ lengths in her debut going five furlongs for Baffert. By freshman stallion Win Win Win, Nooni is owned by Zedan Racing Stables…PhIl D’Amato has a five-win lead in the trainer’s standings over both Mark Glatt and Doug O’Neill entering Friday. D’Amato is seeking his sixth title as Santa Anita’s leading trainer…The father-son duo of horseplayers Duke Matties and Carson Matties will be host Tom Quigley’s handicapping guest Sunday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 11:20 a.m.