SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 28
Flavien Prat / 27
Umberto Rispoli / 18
Hector Berrios / 16
Tiago Pereira / 15
Edwin Maldonado / 11
Antonio Fresu / 10
Trainers / Wins
Bob Baffert / 16
Jeff Mullins / 13
Mark Glatt / 12
Doug O’Neill / 11
Mike Puype / 9
Michael McCarthy / 9
George Papaprodromou / 9
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $100,000, Grade III Palos Verdes Stakes, 4-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs
Sunday
• $100,000 Baffle Stakes, 3-year-olds, about 6½ furlongs on turf
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $200,000, Grade I Los Alamitos Winter Derby, 3-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards
Sunday
• $160,000, Grade I Brad McKinzie Los Alamitos Winter Championship, 4 and up, quarter horses, 400 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Big City Lights (Juan Hernandez) is 2-5 on the morning line – although he drew the tricky No. 1 post – as he seeks his third consecutive victory overall and a repeat of his 2024 win in the Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. Anarchist (Edwin Maldonado), the 2023 Pat O’Brien Stakes winner, can challenge the favorite if he’s at his best for his first start since a third-place finish in a $1 million sprint in Korea in September. It’s a six-horse field.
• Santa Anita races Monday, Presidents’ Day, with the usual 12:30 p.m. first post.
• Santa Anita announced purse increases averaging 8% starting Feb. 28 and 10% compared to 2024 levels at the Arcadia track’s April 18-June 16 Hollywood Meet. Total betting, on-site attendance and average field size are up at Santa Anita’s seven-week-old Classic Meet. This comes as the Southern California circuit begins a monopoly on thoroughbred racing in the state following the closure of Golden Gate Fields and the decision by other northern tracks not to seek dates this year. “The early results of the California transition are encouraging,” said Bill Nader, president and CEO of Thoroughbred Owners of California.
• The Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Saturday is a two-horse race on the morning line, with Brown Coffeee (Jose Nicasio) 2-1 and Train B Taka (Edwin Escobedo) 5-2, the reverse of their 1-2 finish in last month’s trial.
• Santa Anita said it will defend itself against a lawsuit by former track publicity director Mike Willman that contends his 2024 firing was retaliation for his refusal to “lie” about “alleged mismanagement” amid an early-2019 spike in horse deaths. A statement attributed to Santa Anita Park and distributed to reporters on Feb. 7 said the suit “is baseless and filled with false and misleading claims,” and said Willman’s firing “five years after the events he references” had “nothing to do with racetrack safety.”
• Trainer Peter Miller was suspended 15 days and fined $2,500 for a medication violation stemming from Forgiving Spirit’s positive test for the analgesic drug tramadol after a claiming-level sprint Aug. 10 at Del Mar. Forgiving Spirit finished third in the race and was disqualified to sixth for interference. Miller told BloodHorse and Daily Racing Form he believes it’s a case of accidental contamination because a barn employee had been taking the painkiller himself. Horses trained by Miller, a winner of five Breeders’ Cup races and trainer at past Santa Anita and Del Mar meets, will run under the name of former assistant Ruben Alvarado.
• On the Kentucky Derby trail: The $500,000, Grade II Risen Star Stakes at 1⅛ Saturday in New Orleans is the first start for East Avenue (Tyler Gaffalione) since the Brendan Walsh-trained colt’s troubled ninth-place finish as the favorite in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. The $400,000 Sunland Park Derby at 1 1/16 miles Sunday in New Mexico features Getaway Car (Juan Hernandez), who has lost four in a row against the cream of the division.
• The morning line for the round of Kentucky Derby future betting Friday through Sunday has Bob Baffert-trained Citizen Bull (6-1) and Barnes (8-1) on top, ahead of East Avenue (15-1).
— Kevin Modesti