Stakes results will be telling
The Sunshine Million races last week at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita were good ones to bet. However, the tracks are offering stakes races Saturday that are far more important in national scope.
Gulfstream will run the Turf Handicap (Grade I), Donn Handicap (Grade I) and Suwannee River (Grade III). Santa Anita has the Las Virgenes (Grade I), Robert B. Lewis (Grade II) and Strub (Grade II). Horses exiting these stakes will be heard from all year.
For example, the 2009 Lewis produced the winners of the Arkansas Derby (Papa Clem), Santa Anita Derby (Pioneerof the Nile) and Wood Memorial (I Want Revenge).
This year's Lewis has just as much potential, headed by two sons of sire Tiznow -- Tiz Chrome and American Lion. Tiznow won the Breeders' Cup Classic twice, so the pedigree is strong for his sons to handle the Kentucky Derby distance of 11/4 miles.
Bay colt Tiz Chrome, trained by Bob Baffert and owned by Las Vegans Terry Lanni and Bernie Schiappa, has easily won both career starts, so the sky is the limit. Saturday's race comes on the third anniversary of his foal date. Bay colt American Lion won the seven-furlong Hollywood Prevue for trainer Eoin Harty his last time out Nov. 21.
The Las Virgenes will showcase possibly the best 3-year-old filly in the country in Blind Luck. Her narrow loss to She Be Wild in the BC Juvenile Fillies cost her an Eclipse Award.
Last year's Strub field was so deep that two-time Eclipse Award champion Gio Ponti finished fifth behind Cowboy Cal. The most promising 4-year-old in this year's Strub is another Baffert trainee, Misremembered. His best career races came on dirt at Hoosier Park and Churchill Downs, which is hosting this year's Breeders' Cup.
At Gulfstream, the Donn is headed by the mercurial Quality Road. The talented colt's bad behavior at the starting gate of the BC Classic caused him to be scratched. He loves Gulfstream, though, having won three major stakes at the Hallandale, Fla. track.
• WINSLOW HOMER SIDELINED -- Winslow Homer and Piscitelli were both injured in the recent Holy Bull at Gulfstream and have been declared out of the Kentucky Derby.
The loss of Winslow Homer really hurts because his Holy Bull victory hinted at exceptional ability. The race was run over a dirt track, so critics can't blame the injuries on any synthetic surfaces this time.
Richard Eng's horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.
OAKLAWN BECKONS RACHEL, ZENYATTA WITH HEFTY PURSE
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- The stage is set for the first ladies of racing. Now all Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta have to do is show up.
Oaklawn Park threw some serious money at the two champion females, who have yet to meet, enticing them with a $5 million purse for the Apple Blossom on April 3 -- a race that would be one of the most anticipated in years.
Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were unbeaten last year, beating males and females. Rachel Alexandra was the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 years; Zenyatta became the first female to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. Rachel Alexandra beat Zenyatta for Horse of the Year.
Oaklawn president Charles Cella said the owners of both horses are receptive to the idea but have made no commitments.
"This is an event of a lifetime," Pat Pope, Oaklawn's racing secretary, said Thursday. "We're going to do everything to bring them to the state."
The Apple Blossom purse would be 10 times greater than usual for the race. If the meeting fails to materialize -- at a track where both horses have raced -- the purse reverts to $500,000.
If both horses enter, the field would be restricted to 10 fillies and mares, 4 years old and up. Regardless, the distance has been increased from 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8.
Rachel Alexandra, a 4-year-old filly, was 8-0 last year, including the Preakness and two other wins against male horses.
Zenyatta had been set for retirement after capping a 14-0 career in the Breeders' Cup Classic in November. But now the mare is back to race as a 6-year-old and might run in the Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita on March 13.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
