SANTA ANITA LEADERS
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 53
Antonio Fresu / 46
Flavien Prat / 42
Frankie Dettori / 34
Umberto Rispoli / 28
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 30
Mark Glatt / 29
Phil D’Amato / 28
Bob Baffert / 24
Steve Knapp / 20
WEEKEND STAKES AT LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $40,000 Virginia Hyland Stakes, quarter-horse fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 350 yards
DOWN THE STRETCH
• Santa Anita is off this week after the Classic Meet portion of its season ended Sunday. Juan Hernandez led the jockey standings with 53 victories, and Antonio Fresu and Flavien Prat tied for the most stakes-winning rides with 11. Doug O’Neill took the trainer title with 30 wins, while Phil D’Amato had the most stakes wins with 10. Fresu closed fast, winning stakes together last weekend with Stronghold, King of Gosford and Laulne. Favorites cooled off but still won 43% of races. The Hollywood Meet part of the Santa Anita season runs April 19 to June 16.
• After the winning the Santa Anita Derby with Stronghold on Saturday, Fresu paid tribute to Stefano Cherchi, an Italian-born jockey who worked as an exercise rider for D’Amato in 2022-23. Cherchi, 23, died April 3 after falling in a race in Australia. “I felt like he was there with me today,” Fresu said. “(He) was an amazing guy, and I want to dedicate this to him.”
• How strong was Stronghold in the Santa Anita Derby? Not as strong as the winners of other major Kentucky Derby prep races, according to publicly available speed figures, which try to rate how fast horses truly ran. Stronghold got an 89 on the Beyer-figures scale, 99 from Equibase and 98 from Brisnet, each last or second to last among the big preps. That made Stronghold, theoretically, about six to 13 lengths slower than Derby favorite Fierceness, whose Florida Derby win rated 110, 110 and 106.
• Kentucky Derby qualifying points standings will be finalized Saturday when the $400,000, Grade III Lexington Stakes, at Keeneland, gives last-gap hopes to several horses. With a win, Hades would vault to 15th in points, Encino could climb to 21st or Liberal Arts to as high as 22nd. The top 20 are guaranteed spots in the May 4 Derby, but withdrawals would allow others to get in.
• A hearing is scheduled Monday in Jefferson County, Ky., on Churchill Downs’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit by Muth owner Amr Zedan seeking to run the colt in the Kentucky Derby. Zedan is challenging Churchill’s decision to add a third year to its ban on horses trained by Bob Baffert after the 2021 Derby disqualification of Medina Spirit. Muth won the Arkansas Derby, which normally would put him in the Kentucky Derby.
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• Jockey Jose Nicasio (12 wins, 30%) and trainer Monty Arrossa (13, 20.6%) lead the quarter-horse trainer standings at Los Alamitos.
• Britain’s Grand National will be run Saturday (8 a.m. PDT) at Aintree with the field reduced from 40 horses to 34, one of several safety measures enacted after horses died from injuries in each of the past four runnings and an animal-rights demonstration delayed last year’s start. The 10-year-old gelding Corach Rambler and jockey Derek Fox aim to repeat their 2023 victory in the race over 4 miles, 2½ furlongs, and 30 jumps.
— Kevin Modesti