Newsletter: Racing! Happy Mother’s Day to one and all

Hello, my name is John Cherwa and welcome back to our horse racing newsletter, as we catch up on Breeders’ Cup news.

But first, legendary Alabama football coach Paul (Bear) Bryant once did a commercial where he asked: “Have you called your mama today? I sure wish I could call mine.”

I do, too.

So, if you haven’t …

Here’s the commercial. (Just click here.)

OK, catching up on more news, changes to the Breeders’ Cup were announced a few days ago. The big change is moving the Juvenile from Saturday to Friday, and the Distaff and Dirt Mile from Friday to Saturday. It’s also added a Juvenile Turf Sprint, upping the number of races to 14.

The new Friday schedule of five BC races will all be for 2-year-olds. It’s being called “Future Stars Friday,” likely because “You Better See Them While You Can Because the Really Good Ones Will Be Retired in About a Year” doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well.

Now, the loser in this is the Distaff, which will clearly be a warm-up act on Saturday. Not that there haven’t been great Distaffs. The Beholder-Songbird stretch run at Santa Anita remains one of the best races I’ve ever seen.

But, let’s face it, when the biggest event in the sport is built around 3-year-olds, it makes sense to market those Kentucky Derby hopefuls the previous November. This new format seems like an idea worth trying.

So, the new Friday lineup, with the exact order undetermined, is:

-- Juvenile Turf Sprint (5½ furlongs)

-- Juvenile Fillies Turf (1 mile)

-- Juvenile Fillies (1 1/16 miles)

-- Juvenile Turf (1 mile)

-- Juvenile (1 1/16 miles)

And the new Saturday lineup, with the exact order undetermined, is:

-- Filly & Mare Sprint (7 furlongs)

-- Turf Sprint (5½ furlongs)

-- Dirt Mile (take a guess at the distance?)

-- Filly and Mare Turf (new distance of 1 3/8 miles)

-- Sprint (6 furlongs)

-- Mile (see Dirt Mile)

-- Distaff (1 1/8 miles)

-- Turf (1½ miles)

-- Classic (1¼ miles)

This will all be in place for this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs.

Next year? Well, that still hasn’t been announced. After more than a half century, it took less time to finalize a location for the heads of state of the United States and North Korea to meet than it has for the Breeders’ Cup to announce next year’s location.

Here are the choices, as I see it:

-- Santa Anita: A no-brainer. It knows how to do it, how to fill the stands and could probably put it together with 60 days’ notice.

-- Del Mar: It earned a repeat visit but not so quickly. The track showed how the smaller but pricier format can work.

-- Churchill Downs. Naw, not two years in a row. Twinspires, the Churchill ADW, is a partner with the Breeders’ Cup, but that relationship expires soon and we’ll see how that may change things.

-- Keeneland. It was last there in 2015, and they did a good job. It will get another shot, but hold it in Kentucky two years in a row? Well, they’ve done that with California.

-- Laurel. Whoa, where did that come from? The Stronach Group has positioned it to replace the ancient Pimlico. It wants it, but it probably need more than one year’s lead time. If that weren’t the case and it is on deck, I would announce it this week at the Preakness. But don’t count on it.

Stay tuned.

Santa Anita review

Kanthaka got a perfect trip from Flavien Prat on Saturday to win the Grade 3 $100,000 Lazaro Barrera Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs. Prat kept the horse on the rail for most of the race, then moved him to an open two spot entering the stretch and went on to win by ¾ length.

The colt went off as the favorite and paid $4.40, $3.00 and $2.20. Beautiful Shot finished second and Zulfikar was third.

“I thought Flavien put the horse right up in there where he had a chance to get trapped and not get out,” said winning trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. “But he was counting on getting the seam and went through, so I’m really proud of him and the rider.”

In the other feature, the $75,000 Angels Flight was with the same conditions, except for fillies. The winner was Emboldened, who rallied wide to pull the upset. She won over favored Moonshine Memories by 2¼ lengths. First Dudette was third.

Emboldened, for trainer Baffert and ridden by Martin Garcia, paid $30.00, $11.00 and $8.00.

“I learned she can sit off the pace,” Baffert said. “She’s a young horse and she took a lot of dirt. She sat there and they were smokin’ on the front end. Martin just sat there … and just waited. … Emboldened showed us a different dimension today and that’s something to look forward to. We might be able to stretch her out.”

Santa Anita preview

Have to say, but this is a miserable Sunday card at Santa Anita. There are nine races starting at 12:30 p.m. Eight of the nine races are full-out claimers and the ninth is an optional claimer. Things are getting tough for the rest of the meet, especially when the big Preakness and Belmont cards siphon off a lot of the horses for the expanded cards. There is no stakes race on Sunday.

There are four turf races, which have the biggest fields. The seventh is 1 1/8 miles, the first and ninth are a mile and the fourth is 6½ furlongs, down the hill. Five of the claimers are for maidens. The field sizes aren’t bad. They are, in order: 9, 6, 5, 8, 8, 11, 9, 8, 9.

The feature is the seventh, 1 11/8 miles on the turf, for 3-year-olds.

Big Races review

A look at graded stakes or races worth more $100,000 or more on Saturday.

Belmont: Grade 3 $200,000 Vagrancy Handicap, fillies and mares 4 and up, 6½ furlongs. Winner: Kirby’s Penny ($16.20)

Woodbine: $100,000 Star Shoot Stakes, fillies 3 years old, 6 furlongs. Winner: Sly Beauty ($24.50)

Belmont: $150,000 Run Happy Stakes, 4 and up, 6 furlongs. Winner: Westwood ($7.40)

Santa Anita: Grade 3 $100,000 Lazaro Barrera Stakes, 3-year-olds, 7 furlongs. Winner: Kanthaka ($4.40)

Arlington: Grade 3 $100,000 Hanshin Cup Stakes, 3 and up, 1 mile. Winner: Matrooh ($19.60)

Belmont: Grade 3 $200,000 Beaugay Stakes, fillies and mares 4 and up, 1 1/16 on turf. Winner: A Raving Beauty ($7.70)

Gulfstream: $100,000 Big Drama Stakes, Fla.-breds 3 and up, 7 furlongs. Winner: Mr. Jordan ($11.40)

Belmont: Grade 3 $350,000 Peter Pan Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles. Winner: Blended Citizen ($11.40)

Belmont: Grade 1 $700,000 Man O’ War Stakes, 4 and up, 1 3/8 miles on turf. Winner: High Happy ($5.90)

Santa Anita: $75,000 Angels Flight Stakes, fillies 3 years old, 7 furlongs. Winner: Emboldened ($30.00)

Big races preview

A look at graded stakes or races worth more $100,000 or more on Sunday. All times PDT:

11:12 Woodbine: $100,000 New Providence Stakes, Ontario-breds 3 and up, 6 furlongs. Favorite: Pink Lloyd (1-9)

11:37 Belmont: $100,000 Gold Fever Stakes, 3-year-olds, 6 furlongs. Favorite: Engage (1-1)

1:57 Woodbine: Grade 3 $125,000 Marine Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 1/16 miles. Favorite: Archaggelos (2-1)

Bob Ike’s SA play of the day

SIXTH RACE: No. 5 It’s a New Year (4-1)

Maiden claimer from the Peter Miller barn was entered against winners last time and lost all chance when breaking very slowly. He drops to his lowest level yet and figures to be a pace factor throughout if he breaks running.

Saturday result: What’s Bruin (9-2) got a good trip but could not have run worse.

Bob Ike is a Partner/VP of Horsebills.com (here’s a video) and the proprietor of BobIkePicks.com (full-card picks, 3 Best Plays and betting strategy).

Ed Burgart LA play of the day

FIFTH RACE: No. 5 Moonflash Pilot (5-2)

She is one of five entrants who have race experience, while the four first-time starters have mediocre drills. This filly broke slow and veered in at the start from the rail post in sixth-place debut three weeks ago. Leading jockey Jesus Ayala stays aboard and I liked the filly’s initial 12.4 gate drill last March 24 when she was quick early while dusting her workmate by 2½ lengths.

Final thoughts

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And now the stars of the show, Saturday’s results and Sunday’s entries.