Santa Anita opener gets supersized

Jay PrivmanDec 23, 2019

Barbara D. LivingstonOmaha Beach will be favored in a field of five 3-year-olds in the Malibu Stakes.

Omaha Beach in the Runhappy Malibu, Bellafina in the La Brea, and the return of Gift Box in the San Antonio are among the many highlights of Santa Anita’s opening-day card on Saturday, for which entries were drawn Monday.

Opening day was delayed by 48 hours from Thursday owing to a weather forecast last weekend that painted a soggy picture for the middle of this week. As a result, the five stakes originally scheduled for Thursday and the two already scheduled for Saturday all will be run as part of an 11-race card that begins at 11 a.m. Pacific, with gates opening at 9 a.m. All fans will receive Santa Anita’s traditional opening-day gift, a popular wall calendar.

There are six graded stakes, three of them Grade 1, $300,000 races -- the Malibu, La Brea, and American Oaks.

The Malibu, race 9, drew a field of five 3-year-olds, with Omaha Beach – winner of the Santa Anita Sprint Championship and runner-up most recently in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile – the favorite in the seven-furlong race. He drew the outside post. His rivals include fellow Grade 1 winners Complexity and Roadster, as well as Manny Wah and Much Better.

The La Brea, race 7, attracted nine 3-year-old fillies, headed by Bellafina, most recently second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, which, like the La Brea, is at seven furlongs. She drew right in the middle of the field, in post 5, with First Star, Del Mar May, Free Cover, and Stirred to her inside, and Bell’s the One, Hard Not to Love, Motion Emotion, and Mother Mother to her outside.

Javier Castellano will be in town to ride both Complexity in the Malibu and Bell’s the One in the La Brea.

The American Oaks, race 6, drew eight 3-year-old fillies for the 1 1/4-mile grass race – So Much Happy, Apache Princess, Mucho Unusual, K P Slickem, Lady Prancealot, Pretty Point, Giza Goddess, and Vibrance.

Gift Box returns to the site of his greatest triumph. Earlier this year, he defeated McKinzie in the Santa Anita Handicap. Entered against him in the 1 1/16-mile San Antonio, race 5, are the vastly improved Midcourt, fellow older runners Draft Pick, Fight On, King Abner, and Mugaritz, and the 3-year-old Gray Magician. The Grade 2 San Antonio has a purse of $200,000.

The Grade 2, $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile, race 10, has the largest field among the seven stakes, with 11 3-year-olds in the turf race, headed by Hollywood Derby winner Mo Forza. Also entered are Sash, Originaire, Ocean Fury, Never Easy, Neptune’s Storm, Kingly, Proud Pedro, Barristan the Bold, Loafers Boy, and Bob and Jackie.

The Grade 3, $100,000 Robert Frankel, race 8, has eight older females going 1 1/8 miles on turf, including Rodeo Drive winner Mirth. Her rivals include Tiny Tina, Excellent Sunset, Don’t Blame Judy, Streak of Luck, Curlin’s Journey, Harmless, and Ms. Peintour.

The $75,000 Lady of Shamrock, for 3-year-old fillies, including Brill, going one mile on turf, is carded as race 2 and will be the first stakes race of the meet, and the first grass race.