ARCADIA — For the second straight weekend, many of the most talented horses at Santa Anita will be trying to earn chances to run for Breeders’ Cup riches later this month at Keeneland Race Course.
Read more LAFC promotes assistant Xavi Tamarit to interim coach
Before they’re sent 2,100 miles by air to Lexington, Ky., some prospects must show they can negotiate 1, 1¹⁄₁₆ or 1¼ miles by land in Saturday’s and Sunday’s stakes here.
That’s certainly true for the 2-year-olds stretching out from sprints at Del Mar to routes in stakes like Saturday’s Grade I American Pharoah and Grade II Oak Leaf, qualifiers for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies. But it’s also true for the 4-year-old favorite and her top challenger in Saturday’s Grade II Rodeo Drive, a test for Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf hopefuls. The issue of distance hangs over contenders in other races too.
Here are horses to watch. Races each day are listed in order of importance. Morning-line odds for Sunday weren’t yet available Thursday morning.
SATURDAY
Race 7: $300,000, Grade I American Pharoah Stakes, 2-year-olds, 1¹⁄₁₆ miles
Thirteen-time winning trainer Bob Baffert has them surrounded as usual, with four of the seven runners, including the top three picks below.
Juan Hernandez, Baffert’s No. 1 jockey, sticks with Hughes (a son of leading North American sire Into Mischief) because you don’t give away the mount on an unbeaten Del Mar Futurity winner. But Joel Rosario might have just as much potential beneath him in Imperial Honor (by Honor A.P.).
This will be the first main-track race longer than 7 furlongs for all of the entrants. Those who handle the stretchout best, in an event that has been prone to upsets lately, go on to the 1¹⁄₁₆-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the first day of the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup.
Picks: 1. Imperial Honor (9-5 on the morning line), 2. Hughes (4-5 favorite), 3. Domus (8-1), 4. Dang Son (12-1)
Race 3: $200,000, Grade II Oak Leaf Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1¹⁄₁₆ miles
Fourteen-time winner Baffert has the top three picks here, or half the field.
Miss Monica, Baffert’s Del Mar Debutante winner with Hernandez, apparently is going straight to the Oct. 30 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Hernandez ends up staying with debut winner Deluge (by Maximus Mischief) in the Oak Leaf, while Ricky Gonzalez keeps Holmby (Corniche) after riding her to third in the Debutante, and Mike Smith stays on recent maiden-breaker Quattro Passi (Girvin).
As in the American Pharoah, the runners are all trying their first dirt race longer than 7 furlongs. It’s a close call among the top three.
Picks: 1. Holmby (9-5), 2. Quattro Passi (5-2), 3. Deluge (8-5 favorite), 4. Free Closer (6-1)
Race 10: $200,000, Grade II Rodeo Drive Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1¼ miles on turf
Thought Process was upset by Medoro in the John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar as Hernandez got the jump on Hector Berrios. The Grade I winner will restore order to the local females-on-turf division if she handles her first try beyond 1⅛ miles. A 1¼-mile win would send her on to the 1³⁄₁₆ Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
The 1¼ miles may feel shorter, since this race starts on Santa Anita’s turf hillside.
Trainer Phil D’Amato said he has no doubt about Thought Process going farther, noting that “her gallop-outs (after) her last two races were monstrous.”
May Day Ready looked as if 1¼ miles – and 1³⁄₁₆ – is in range when she burst clear late in a 1¹⁄₁₆-mile win at Kentucky Downs.
“I think she’s going to like it,” May Day Ready trainer Richard Mandella said of the distance. “It’s time to see if she can or can’t.”
Read more USC football braces for Washington without Desman Stephens
Picks: 1. Thought Process (4-5 favorite), 2. May Day Ready (5-1), 3. Vronti (6-1), 4. Hey Jessie (10-1)
Race 2: $100,000, Grade III Chillingworth Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 6½ furlongs
The race has no graded stakes winners, though Thermal was second to Sweet Azteca in the Rancho Bernardo at Del Mar. A different kind of distance question surrounds No Bad Beats: Were her two recent poor efforts the result of trying to go 7 furlongs, which can be very different than 6½? If so, doesn’t her overall improvement give her a chance here?
“I think distance-wise, she can be a little limited (to) 6, 6½,” trainer Leonard Powell said of No Bad Beats.
Picks: 1. Thermal (2-1), 2. Toaster (6-5 favorite), 3. No Bad Beats (12-1), 4. Paradise City (7-2)
Race 6: $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes, 2-year-olds, 5 furlongs on turf
Trainer Wesley Ward must hope Omaha Spirit (by Omaha Beach) is as good as his last Speakeasy starter. A year ago, Bacio ran second to Later Than Planned as the favorite in this race before developing into the Group 1-winning sprinter who took Hernandez to England twice this year.
Picks: 1. Omaha Spirit (8-5), 2. Off in the Corner (5-2), 3. High Pronto (10-1), 4. Arctic Wolf (2-1)
SUNDAY
Race 4: $100,000, Grade III Zuma Beach, 2-year-olds, 1 mile on turf
Debut winner with jockey Umberto Rispoli in a sprint at Del Mar, Michael McCarthy-trained Repo Man stands out if he takes to 1 mile. Sire Golden Pal was a Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner, but dam Gran Nighthawk is by Awesome Again, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner.
Picks: 1. Repo Man, 2. Duty Bound, 3. Maxify, 4. Off in the Corner
Race 6: $100,000, Grade III Surfer Girl, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf
Finally, a favorite who has won at the stakes level at this race’s distance. Vanta (by Greatest Honor) and Rispoli are 2 for 2 together for trainer Jeff Mullins after a slow-starting, fast-finishing win in a stakes at Del Mar.
Picks: 1. Vanta, 2. Less Please, 3. Blockade, 4. Dee Snook
First post at Santa Anita is 1 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
SHORTENING UP
• Forged Steel jumped into the official Breeders’ Cup contender rankings at No. 8 after his victory at 12-1 in the Goodwood Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita. Here’s the rest of the top 10, which is voted by journalists, handicappers and racing officials and has no bearing on entries for the $7 million race Oct. 31 at Keeneland: Forever Young, Sovereignty, Knightsbridge, Magnitude, Golden Tempo, The Puma, Napoleon Solo, Further Ado, Baeza.
• No respect? None of the winners on Santa Anita’s first weekend of Breeders’ Cup preps Sept. 26-27 earned votes for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s weekly rankings, which have Sovereignty No. 1. In addition to Forged Steel, Santa Anita winners who could go to the Breeders’ Cup and seek national attention are Listenupshance (Sprint), Super Corredora (Distaff), Atitlan (Turf) and Cabo Spirit (Mile).
• Carla Gaines is in the unfamiliar position of co-leader in the Santa Anita trainer standings, tied with Doug O’Neill with three wins each, one week into the six-week fall meet. “Queen for a day!” said Gaines, who trains mainly for breeders and credits a good crop of young horses for her recent success. They include Daytona Diamond, winner at Del Mar in the Generous Portion Stakes for California-bred 2-year-old fillies.
• Last weekend was bad all around for trainer Aggie Ordonez, who went in with high hopes. Om N Joy finished sixth while favored in the Zenyatta Stakes. Vodka Vodka ran eighth in the Goodwood. “And the dog got sick,” Ordonez said. Saying “my ego is bruised, more than anything,” Ordonez was preparing to talk with owners Jerry and Connie Baker about next steps for their two popular horses.
• Weekend quarter-horse racing at Los Alamitos features 14 trials on Saturday night for the Grade I Golden State Million Futurity on Oct. 25. Grade II winners AJ Your Favorite and Call Me Candella and Grade I runner-up Faultless are among 112 horses racing 400 yards.
Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at X.com/KevinModesti.
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Emisael Jaramillo / 4
Juan Hernandez / 4
Kazushi Kimura / 4
Umberto Rispoli / 3
Kyle Frey / 2
Armando Aguilar / 2
(Eight tied) / 1
Trainers / Wins
Carla Gaines / 3
Doug O’Neill / 3
Craig Lewis / 2
Jeff Mullins / 2
John Sadler / 2
Richard Mandella / 2
George Papaprodromou / 2
Phil D’Amato / 2
(Nine tied) / 1
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $300,000, Grade I American Pharoah, 2-year-olds, 1¹⁄₁₆ miles
• $200,000, Grade II Oak Leaf Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1¹⁄₁₆ miles
• $200,000, Grade II Rodeo Drive Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1¼ miles on turf
• $100,000, Grade III Chillingworth Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 6½ furlongs
Read more Dodgers playoff schedule for 2026
• $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes, 2-year-olds, 5 furlongs on turf
Sunday
• $100,000, Grade III Zuma Beach Stakes, 2-year-olds, 1 mile on turf
• $100,000, Grade III Surfer Girl Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile on turf