Santa Anita Stable Notes Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025

STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN SATURDAY, FEB. 8, 2025

• SWEET LIFE: SCHILFLIED LOOMS A THREAT WITH DISTANCE CUTBACK • WORKOUTS RESUME ON TRAINING TRACK AFTER RAINSTORMS • GIII SAN MARCOS PART OF SATURDAY’S COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5 • EARLY 11 A.M. FIRST POST FOR ‘BIG GAME’ SUNDAY

SWEET LIFE: SCHILFLIED LOOMS A THREAT WITH DISTANCE CUTBACK

Schilflied the 5-1 third choice on the morning line in Sunday’s $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, was second-best to morning-line favorite Casalu (7-5) when going a mile on turf in the Blue Norther Dec. 28 at Santa Anita. This time around, they will meet going about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course.

Patrick Gallagher, Schilflied’s trainer, thinks the shorter distance could prove the winning difference on Sunday.

“We tried her a couple times going long and she just didn’t seem to finish her races,” Gallagher said Saturday morning. “We thought this was an interesting race to take a shot at.”

Neither Schilflied or Casalu have tried the unique hillside turf course. Casalu, who earned her first stakes win in the Blue Norther for trainer Bob Baffert, has never sprinted on turf. As for Schilflied, her only previous sprint try resulted in a sharp 3 ½-length maiden win going 6 ½ furlongs on Santa Anita’s main turf course in October. By Mendelssohn, Schilflied will be wheeling back relatively quickly. After the Blue Norther, Schiflied returned two weeks ago going a mile on turf at Santa Anita and finished third in a first-level allowance.

“It’s coming back a little quick, but the race looked tempting,” Gallagher said.

Schilflied will be ridden by Hector Berrios, who was aboard for her previous two starts. Berrios, who ranks fourth in the jockey’s standings, has gained notoriety this winter particularly for his work on turf.

“Hopefully we get a good trip. We’re optimistic,” Gallagher said.

The Sweet Life goes as the seventh race on a nine-race card Sunday. With early first post of 11 a.m. due to the NFL championship game, post time for the Sweet Life is set for 2:02 p.m. PT. The field in post position order: Hey Lil Lady, Mario Gutierrez (12-1); How About Pavel, Tiago Pereira (20-1); Schilflied, Hector Berrios (5-1); Tequilaandtherapy, Edwin Maldonado (9-2); Casalu, Flavien Prat (7-5); Practical Dream, Antonio Fresu (12-1); As Catch Can, Umberto Rispoli (15-1); Going Deep, Tyler Baze (12-1); Acquitted, Juan Hernandez (6-1); Ce La Vi Charli, Frankie Dettori (30-1).

WORKOUTS RESUME ON TRAINING TRACK AFTER RAINSTORMS

While training on the main track remained limited to joggers Saturday due to this week’s rainstorms, it was all systems go on Santa Anita’s synthetic training track. Led by stakes winner Miss Lizzy, 76 horses recorded timed workouts on the training track.

Miss Lizzy, most recently fourth in the GIII Las Cienegas Jan. 19, drilled five furlongs in 1:00.80. She was one of nine workers for trainer Doug O’Neill.

According to track officials, Santa Anita received around 2 ¼ inches of rain this week, which far exceeded forecasts. As a result of the wet conditions, there were no workouts permitted on either the main track or training track on both Wednesday and Friday. The main track remained closed for workers Friday as mandated by the California Horse Racing Board’s inclement weather policy. Full training is expected to resume on Sunday.

GIII SAN MARCOS PART OF SATURDAY’S COAST-TO-COAST PICK 5

Santa Anita’s feature race Saturday, the GIII San Marcos going 1 ¼ miles on turf, is part of Saturday’s $1 Coast-to-Coast Pick 5. The sequence starts at 1:49 p.m. PT with the 10th race from Gulfstream Park. The San Marcos goes as the fourth leg at approximately 2:48 p.m.

The San Marcos is led by 8-5 program favorite Truly Quality for trainer Jonathan Thomas. Truly Quality enters with three consecutive stakes wins including the GII Hollywood Turf Cup going 1 ½ miles at Del Mar Nov. 29. The 5-year-old Quality Road gelding will be ridden by Vincent Cheminaud.

Eight were entered in the San Marcos but the field was reduced Saturday morning with the scratch of Nineeleventurbo, who was 12-1 on the morning line for trainer Neil Drysdale. Also in the field is There Goes Harvard, (6-1), who will be making his first start since a 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

The Coast-to-Coast Pick 5 features a low 15 percent takeout and is limited to retail customers only. Saturday’s sequence also includes the fifth race and eighth races from Santa Anita and the 12th race from Gulfstream Park.

EARLY 11 A.M. FIRST POST FOR ‘BIG GAME’ SUNDAY

With Sunday’s NFL championship game set to start at 3:30 p.m. PT, Santa Anita will have an early first post of 11 a.m. for a nine-race card. Training on Sunday morning will end at 8:30 a.m. on both the main track and training track.

For “Big Game” Sunday, on-track patrons will receive free parking and admission and are also invited to stick around for a watch party at Sirona’s. In addition to an array of drink specials, watch party viewers can also play “Big Game Bingo” with $1,000 in prizes up for grabs. There is also a free online Pick ‘Em contest that’s open to everyone with a $3,000 prize pool. The Pick ‘Em contest, which is available at Santaanita.com, tasks players with correctly selecting a variety of propositions related to horse racing and other sports.

Sunday’s race card is highlighted by the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes for 3-year-old fillies sprinting about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course. The 7-5 program favorite in a competitive 10-horse field is Casalu, who will be ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Bob Baffert.

FINISH LINES: There is a Super High 5 carryover of $11,243.47 for Saturday’s 10th and final race, which goes at approximately 5:04 p.m. PT…Trainer Francisco Rodriguez won his first-ever race at Santa Anita Saturday. Rodriguez, who launched his training career last year in Northern California, scored in the fifth race with favorite Hermelinda’s Fancy ($4.60) in an $8,000 maiden claimer. According to Equibase, Rodriguez has won 28 races from 102 starters…Jockey Assael Espinoza rode two winners Friday to move into the top 10 in the jockey’s standings. Espinoza, who moved to Southern California in December, won on the aforementioned Hermelinda’s Fancy and also aboard Nala ($7.80) in the seventh race for trainer O.J. Jauregui…Santa Anita will host a special President’s Day card a week from Monday on Feb. 17. It will be part of a four-day race week at Santa Anita...Santa Anita track announcer Frank Mirahmadi will be host Tom Quigley’s handicapping guest Sunday on the Santa Anita simulcast feed starting at 11:20 a.m. PT….