On Saturday, the featured race at Santa Anita is the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap. The Grade 1 race, run at the classic distance of a mile and a quarter, has drawn a field of thirteen colts and geldings.
Shared Belief tops the field as the overwhelming morning line favorite at odds of 3-5 for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. A four-year-old gelded son of Candy Ride (ARG), he has won nine of his ten career starts. The lone blemish came in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) when a rough trip compromised his chances. He has won his last two starts and made his yearly debut a winning one in the San Anotionio Stakes (G2) in February. Regular rider Mike Smith will be aboard from post five.
Second choice at 6-1 on the morning line is Moreno for trainer Eric Guillot. Bred and owned by Southern Equine Stables, the five-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper will be making his first start of the year and has been on the shelf since finishing fourteenth and last in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) after getting bumped hard at the break. He has been training steadily for his return and will have Santiago Gonzalez in the irons from post position six.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 10-1 is Bronzo (CHI) for trainer Neil Drysdale. A six-year-old gelded son of Fusaichi Pegasus, he began his career in his native Chile and made his stateside debut in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) where he finished fourth. He is trying to earn his first North American stakes victory and was fourth last time out in the San Antonio (G2). Tyler Baze will be aboard and they will break from post thirteen.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
Haskell Invitational Picks for Monmouth Sunday
29 July 2016The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country....
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