Horse racing notes: Southern California’s top Breeders’ Cup prep gets makeover

Slow Down Andy and jockey Mario Gutierrez win the Awesome Again Stakes on Sept. 30, 2023, at Santa Anita Park. (Benoit Photo)

LOS ALAMITOS LEADERS

(Thoroughbred meet, final)

Jockeys / Wins

Kyle Frey / 9

Armando Ayuso / 5

Diego Herrera / 5

Edwin Maldonado / 5

Geovanni Franco / 4

Edgar Payeras / 4

Trainers / Wins

Jorge Periban / 5

Bob Baffert / 4

Sergio Morfin / 4

George Papaprodromou / 4

Peter Miller / 4

Steve Knapp / 4

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Santa Anita’s biggest race of the fall has a bigger prize money and new name. The $1 million California Crown on Sept. 28, formerly the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes, will guarantee the winner a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 2. The final prep for a Classic winner as recently as Accelerate in 2018, the race now has a purse on par with other popular Classic steppingstones like the Pacific Classic, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Travers, Whitney and Pennsylvania Derby.

• Santa Anita owner 1/ST Racing bills California Crown Day as a new “racing and entertainment concept,” featuring “live performances, interactive experiences and cutting-edge technology,” all modeled on Pegasus World Cup Day at Gulfstream Park. As for the racing, Sept. 28 will include five stakes and will kick off two weekends of familiar preps for the Breeders’ Cup. In all, the Sept. 27-Oct. 27 meet will have 22 stakes in 16 racing days.

• It remains to be seen if the purse hike will draw more or better horses to the California Crown, for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. Credit Santa Anita for aiming high, trying to recruit British star 3-year-old City of Troy for the race after trainer Aidan O’Brien talked about shooting for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic – on dirt – rather than the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf. Santa Anita general manager Nate Newby noted that Justify, City of Troy’s sire, won his first three races at Santa Anita. City of Troy is 5 for 6, all on grass, after following up his Epsom Derby triumph with a workmanlike win in Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park near London.

• After a short break for Southern California thoroughbreds, Del Mar opens its season July 20, a week from Saturday. Don’t expect it to have the fan-friendly “projected odds” that Los Alamitos and Santa Anita have displayed on their simulcast TV feeds. A Del Mar spokesman said management is “considering” it but isn’t likely to have an answer in time for the summer meet. Projected odds – extrapolated from pick-three wagering – can help bettors anticipate late changes in the odds on a race.

• Saratoga opened its classy summer season Thursday. Saturday’s Diana Stakes, with Didia and Moira challenging five Chad Brown-trained fillies and mares, is the first of 17 Grade I flat races at the meet that runs through Sept. 2. (Del Mar has six Grade I’s.)

• Two Los Alamitos-loving horses were the only multiple race winners at the three-week Los Al meet that ended Sunday. The 4-year-old filly Just a Little Luck, trained by George Papaprodromou, is 3 for 3 at Los Al (1 for 10 elsewhere) in her career after winning at the $16,000 and $12,000 claiming levels. The 7-year-old gelding See Through It, trained by Genaro Vallejo, is 4 for 8 at the Orange Country track (6 for 26 elsewhere) after two wins at the starter-allowance level.

• In Los Al night racing, Empressum became the second horse to win the Vessels Maturity three times – and three times in a row – with the 6-year-old and jockey Rodrigo Vallejo taking the 400-yard race by three-quarters of a length over Jeriko and Jose Nicasio on Sunday. Empressum matches A Ransom, a fellow former quarter-horse World Champion who won the Vessels Maturity in 2000-01-02.