The next-to-last week of Santa Anita’s autumn meet begins Friday with a four-way battle for leading jockey among Juan Hernandez (15 wins), Emisael Jaramillo (14), Joel Rosario (14) and Kazushi Kimura (13) and features three stakes Saturday and Sunday.
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Jaramillo might be considered the real leader, since he’s outdoing the rest in win percentage overall (29%), on dirt (29%) and turf (28%), in sprints (30%) and routes (26%) and aboard betting favorites (63%).
Jaramillo can tie Umberto Rispoli for the lead in stakes victories at four when he subs for the out-of-town Rosario aboard 9-5 morning-line favorite Mr. A.P. in the 1-mile Tokyo City Cup on Saturday. Vladimir Cerin-trained Mr. A.P. has competed well with Grade I winners in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (second to Ted Noffey) and last month’s Goodwood Stakes (fourth to Forged Steel), and deserves his first stakes win.
Kimura has 7-5 favorite Amorita for trainer Richard Mandella in the Senator Ken Maddy Stakes later Saturday. The 4-year-old filly has run well in stronger hillside turf sprints, and this would be her first win at the trip.
On Sunday, Rispoli has Green Carrera for Leonard Powell in the Grade III Autumn Miss for 3-year-old fillies going 1 mile on turf. It looks like a late-running battle with John Sadler-trained Somerset West and Armando Ayuso.
• Santa Anita said the 128 pounds carried by Grand Slam Smile in her California Distaff Handicap victory on Oct. 11 was the highest weight assignment for a stakes winner at the Arcadia track since 1982, when John Henry won the Santa Anita Handicap under 130. Others who have carried 128 or more to victory include Native Diver, Ack Ack, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid and Tizna, whose 132 in the 1978 San Gorgonio Handicap (now the Robert J. Frankel Stakes) is the highest at Santa Anita since 1966.
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• In Los Alamitos quarter-horse racing, Political Twist and jockey Luis Martinez posted the fastest qualifying time of 19.573 seconds, and Doodah Cartel (19.783) and Henry Reynoso Lopez were second, in 400-yard trials on Sunday night for the Grade I Los Alamitos Super Derby on Nov. 8. Lightning Vaquera (19.892), with rider Gerardo Vera, and Revenantly (19.938), with Christian Cardenas, have the fastest qualifying times for this Sunday’s Grade I Golden State Million Futurity.
• The death of Soo Bronx, a California-bred 2-year-old filly injured early in a maiden race at Los Alamitos on Saturday night, was the 31st of 2026 in racing and training at Los Al, Santa Anita and Del Mar, according to an unofficial count of horse deaths listed on the California Horse Racing Board website. That’s higher than the average of 25.4 deaths in racing and training at the three Southern California tracks from Jan. 1 to Oct. 17 in the past five years, though much lower than the 42 in the same period in 2020, the year the CHRB began posting fatalities.
• A racing memorabilia auction on Dec. 3, to be held online and on-site at Cross Gate Gallery in Lexington, Ky., will include items associated with Zenyatta and more from the late Hall of Fame trainer John Shirreffs’ collection. Also up for auction will be items worn in races by Whirlaway and Kelso. Proceeds will benefit Breeders’ Cup Charities, the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Old Friends Retirement Farm. For information: theracingmemorabiliaauction.com.
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Juan Hernandez / 15
Emisael Jaramillo / 14
Joel Rosario / 14
Kazushi Kimura / 13
Umberto Rispoli / 9
Tiago Pereira / 8
(Four tied) / 6
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 11
Jeff Mullins / 7
John Sadler / 7
George Papaprodromou / 7
Peter Miller / 6
Phil D’Amato / 5
Michael McCarthy / 5
(Four tied) / 4
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $100,000 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, about 6½ furlong on turf
• $85,000 Tokyo City Cup Stakes, 3 and up, 1 mile
Sunday
• $100,000, Grade III Autumn Miss Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf
LOS ALAMITOS
Sunday
• $1 million, Grade I Golden State Million Futurity, 2-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards
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• $30,000 Ah Sigh Handicap, 2-year-old quarter horses, 400 yards