With no Game On Dude, Big Cap up for grabs

The $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday will be a prime example of that cliche “addition by subtraction.”

Game On Dude was supposed to be the marquee horse in the Big Cap, but trainer Bob Baffert opted to skip the race and point to the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31. The $10 million prize is worth waiting for, so who could blame him?

Instead, a well-matched field of 13 will contest the Big Cap, making it the most interesting race of the meet. Game On Dude would have been an overwhelming favorite. Now the Big Cap is a dart throw as the final leg of the Pick 6 on Saturday.

Ultimate Eagle (5-2) is favored off an easy front-running win in the Strub Stakes. The handicapping key will be whether another horse will try to run with Ultimate Eagle early and soften him up.

In the good old days, another trainer with a strong contender might have entered a “rabbit” to force the pace and set up the race for his dead late closer. No trainer has taken that initiative.

Speed has done well on the Santa Anita main dirt track, so Ultimate Eagle has a decided tactical edge.

Two other Grade 1 stakes are scheduled on a strong Saturday card, the $300,000 Kilroe Mile on turf and the $250,000 Las Virgenes.

Mr. Commons will be heavily favored in the Kilroe. Exiting wins in the Sir Beaufort and Arcadia, Mr. Commons is the best turf horse in training in Southern California.

The Las Virgenes could be a coming-out party for Eden’s Moon. She broke her maiden by 11 lengths for Baffert and could be his best prospect down the road for the Kentucky Oaks.

■ HANSEN LOOKS SHARP — Hansen, last year’s 2-year-old champion, will face 12 foes in the $400,000 Gotham on Saturday at Aqueduct. The field is surprisingly large.

There are two schools of thought. First, Hansen is vulnerable off a second-place finish in the Holy Bull to the now-sidelined Algorithms. Second, and the angle I agree with, is Hansen is a slam dunk. Thus, the rest are pretending this is a $160,000 graded stakes, minus the $240,000 that goes to Hansen should he win.

■ CHARLES TOWN CHAOS — I’ve seen a lot of horse races, but never one like Race 8 at Charles Town on Wednesday.

Sharp Beauty was leading an eight-horse field on the far turn when she broke down and fell. The rest of the field toppled over her like dominoes except for one horse, Miss Fifty, who escaped the carnage and jogged to the wire by herself.

Unfortunately, Sharp Beauty had to be euthanized. Luckily, only one jockey — Anthony Mawing — had to stay overnight at a local hospital for observation. It could have been much worse.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.