Santa Anita Stable Notes Thursday, January 4, 2024

STABLE NOTES BY VICTOR RYAN

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2024

• GII SAN VICENTE: SLIDER, BOLTAGE GET BACK ON DIRT • DeLEON WINS SECOND-EVER GRADED STAKES WITH CHISMOSA • VETERAN TRAINER TRUMAN STEPS AWAY AFTER 60 YEARS IN RACING
__• 1/ST COAST TO COAST PICK 5 RETURNS SATURDAY __

GII SAN VICENTE: SLIDER, BOLTAGE GET BACK ON DIRT The road to the GI Santa Anita Derby April 6 begins Saturday with the GII San Vicente for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs on dirt, which attracted a field of six led by 4-5 morning-line favorite Muth for trainer Bob Baffert.

Among the rivals set to take on Muth, winner of the GI American Pharoah here going 1 1/16 miles Oct. 7, are Slider for trainer John Sadler and Boltage for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. Both Slider and Boltage return to dirt following multiple stakes efforts on turf.

Slider’s first two starts came on dirt this summer at Del Mar, which included a sharp three-length maiden win going 5 ½ furlongs Sept. 9. A month later, the Jimmy Creed colt switched to turf for the five-furlong Speakeasy Stakes at Santa Anita and promptly scored by 1 ¼ lengths under Hector Berrios.

From there, it was on to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

“After he won the prep, we decided to go on with it,” Sadler said of running on grass.

In the five-furlong Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint here Nov. 3, Slider couldn’t keep up with a wicked pace of 20.71 seconds for the opening quarter mile and 43.65 seconds for the half. He would wind up ninth beaten three lengths by winner Big Evs.

“He wasn’t beat that far,” Sadler noted. “But those splits were crazy. I thought, ‘Could that be right?’ They went faster than the older horses in the Turf Sprint. He was just out-quicked.”

The following day In the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, the posted fractions were 21.15 seconds and 43.77 seconds. The winner, Nobals, came from some six lengths off the pace after the opening half mile to prevail by a neck.

“It’s the Breeders’ Cup and you would think the times were right, but that was pretty wild,” Sadler said.

Slider (4-1) will be ridden by Joel Rosario for the first time Saturday. He has worked five times since the Breeders’ Cup and Sadler is pleased with what he’s seen.

“He’s doing good, training well on the dirt,” he added. “He had two good races on dirt back at Del Mar, no doubt about that. It makes sense to put him back on the dirt here.”

Slider is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Hall Racing LLC and Pearl Racing. He was purchased for $240,000 at last year’s OBS April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

Boltage (12-1) will be making his first start on dirt since his debut at Del Mar July 23 when he checked in sixth while never a factor. After graduating going a mile on turf in his next start at Del Mar, he was made the even-money favorite in the GIII Del Mar Juvenile Turf going a mile Sept. 10 and finished third. By Bolt d’Oro, Boltage most recently finished off the board in the GIII Zuma Beach at a mile on turf here Oct. 8.

“It’s an experiment,” Mandella said of the San Vicente. “I always thought he was a turf horse but I’m hoping I’m wrong. We’ll find out.” Boltage, a $240,000 auction buy as a yearling, is campaigned by Pin Oak Stud. Mandella said the San Vicente emerged as a potential spot in recent works. “He got a little rundown and tired so we gave him a little break,” he added. “When he came back, we thought as good as he is training on dirt we might as well try it.”

Boltage has four bullet works on the tab since Nov. 22, which includes back-to-back six-furlong drills. He will be ridden for the first time Saturday by Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

The San Vicente goes as the eighth race on Saturday’s nine-race card. Post time is approximately 3:30 p.m. PT. The field in post position order: Moonlit Sonata, Geovanni Franco (6-1); Slider, Joel Rosario (4-1); Muth, Juan Hernandez (4-5); Formidable Man, Kazushi Kimura (20-1); Boltage, Mike Smith (12-1).

TRAINER DeLEON WINS SECOND-EVER GRADED STAKES WITH CHISMOSA Trainer Raphael DeLeon, who operates a six-horse stable at Los Alamitos, won his second-ever graded stakes Monday with California-bred Chismosa in the GIII Las Flores for fillies and mares going six furlongs on dirt.

For DeLeon, 63, it was his first graded stakes triumph since the 2009 GII San Gorgonio Handicap going 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita. Tizfiz would later gain acclaim as the dam of Tiz the Law, the 2020 Belmont Stakes winner and current stallion.

“I’m very happy. It’s been a long time,” DeLeon said of Chismosa’s triumph Thursday morning from Los Alamitos.

In the Las Flores, Chismosa prevailed at 8-1 under Kyle Frey due in large part to the actions of favorite Sweet Azteca. Turning into the stretch, Sweet Azteca drifted out badly under Frankie Dettori and lost precious lengths. She would wind up third as Chismosa outran second-choice Hot Peppers to the wire to win by 1 ¼ lengths.

For DeLeon, the victory was especially sweet. He owns 40 percent of Chismosa in partnership with breeder Jaime Renella. Chismosa is a 4-year-old filly by California stallion Clubhouse Ride out of the Cat Dreams mare You Can Dream. According to Equibase, DeLeon saddled his first winner in 2004. He owns 136 career victories with purse earnings of more than $4.3 million.

“It’s always the horse that makes the trainer,” DeLeon said. As a 2-year-old in 2021, Chismosa won both the CTBA Stakes for statebreds and black-type Generous Portion, both at Del Mar. Last year, racing exclusively in stakes, she hit the board four times in eight starts but failed to win. DeLeon noted Chismosa’s career has been hampered by a series of bad trips. “She’s had a lot of bad luck,” he added. "One race she tried to jump the rail. But she’s a nice filly who is getting stronger. I think she is going to be even better as an older horse.”

Chismosa’s win in the Las Flores upped her record to 4-2-2 in 12 starts with $365,250 in earnings. DeLeon said she came out of race “in great shape and is ready to go again.”

The next sprint stakes on dirt for older fillies and mares at Santa Anita is the GII Santa Monica going seven furlongs Feb. 3.

VETERAN TRAINER EDDIE TRUMAN STEPS AWAY AFTER 60 YEARS IN RACING A former assistant to the legendary Bobby Frankel and a licensed trainer for more than 50 years, Eddie Truman announced on Monday that he had sent his final horse to the track on New Year’s Eve morning at Santa Anita—ending a racetrack run that dates back to the early 1960s.

A winner of 763 races from 5,334 starters, with purse earnings of $15.7 million, Truman, long one of the most generous and popular members of the training community, stated that with his 77th birthday fast approaching on Jan. 23, the time was right for him and his wife Elizabeth to step away from a way of life that dates back to his teenage years, when, as an apprentice jockey in 1963 at Sportsman’s Park in Chicago, he led all riders.

“I’ve been blessed to have a great group of owners, some of them for 40 years,” said Truman from his Sierra Madre home on Monday. “I believe the great horses, the great jockeys, here in a great setting is something we could never replace and that Santa Anita will continue forever.”

Truman, who following an initial run as a licensed trainer for one year in Detroit, MI and a subsequent trip to Europe, came to Southern California in 1972. His first stop was the backstretch at Hollywood Park, where he introduced himself to Frankel, in the hopes of securing a job as an exercise rider, assistant, or whatever might be available.

“When I came back from Europe, I decided I wanted to be a trainer and that I wanted to go with the best…Forget everything I thought I knew and try to learn from the best. And so, it was Charlie Whittingham or Bobby Frankel,” said Truman. “I happened to walk into Bobby’s barn first and I asked him if I could get on some horses or if there were any jobs available. He said ‘Who are you?’ And I said ‘Eddie Truman.’ And he said ‘Oh my God, you were riding when I was walking hots at Tropical Park in 1963!’ So then, he told me to go get on a horse and I was in.”

By any accounting, Truman has enjoyed a long, distinguished run as a highly respected horseman wherever he has competed and he was quick to acknowledge some of the owners that made his career possible.

“I’ve had some fabulous people,” he said. “Clients like Howard and Janet Siegel, Jim Roper, Larry Samovar (Academic Farms) and going way back, Bud and Ann Parker (Budann Stable) that really made me. We had a lot of success claiming horses. I’ve just been associated with such great people and they were not only clients, but really nice friends. All these people and of course, the horses, have made it spectacular, a dream come true for me.”

As for what the future holds, Truman said that he and his wife plan to spend time with family and to travel.

“We have an eight-month old granddaughter from my daughter, so we’re just living the dream now. We’re spending more time with them and just travelling and doing the things we like to do.”

At the soon-to-be ripe old age of 77, does Eddie Truman intend to continue as a committed, everyday bicyclist?

“Oh, absolutely. I have to do that, otherwise they’d have to put me in a mental institution.”

Truman’s top horses include Go West Marie ($452,600); Irish-bred Casino King ($328,689); Moonless Sky ($269,120) and With Iris ($251,740).

--Mike Willman

FINISH LINES: Training Thursday was limited to joggers only due to rain. Full training is slated to resume Friday…In Friday’s sixth race, Gate to Paradise is back in with maidens for trainer John Shirreffs following a fifth-place effort at 5-2 in the GII Chandelier here Oct. 7. Gate to Paradise is the 9-5 program favorite in a field of six set to go a mile on dirt… Sunday’s feature is the GIII Santa Ynez for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs. The race kicks off the road to the GII Santa Anita Oaks here April 6…The $1 Coast to Coast Pick 5 from Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park returns Saturday. The sequence kicks off at 1:06 p.m. PT. Every Friday during the Classic Meet fans will enjoy free admission and parking plus $3 beers and $5 margaritas.