Irish-Bred Kanatiyr Celebrates a Day Early

Irish-bred Kanatiyr celebrated St. Patrick’s Day one day early by winning Friday’s $37,000 feature race on the Santa Anita turf course in his U.S. debut.

Kanatiyr had raced in France last year as a 3-year-old before being bought by Clover Racing Stable and turned over to trainer Rick Mettee. Unraced since September, the son of Chief Singer had been brought up to his first race on American turf with outstanding workouts and was sent away as the 3-2 favorite. He returned $5.00 after running the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 2/5.

Jockey Chris McCarron let Kanatiyr settle at the back of a strung-out field, well off a torrid pace set by Timdala, then let him run going into the final turn. Once in full stride, Kanatiyr passed the field with ease and pulled off to win by three lengths over longshot Jetting Around.