HORSE RACING

TODAY AT SANTA ANITA PARK

By Richard Eng

Post Time 12:30 p.m.

Race 1 – 5 1/2 furlongs, Purse $54,000, Maiden special weights, 3-year-olds

4 Tokubetsu – The Bob Baffert train just keeps rolling along; he has an uncoupled entry here, and one of them will win.

5 Midnight Interlude – The other Baffert is a FTS with fantastic turf pedigree; this may be a prep for a grass start next.

Long Shot – 7 Wild Native

Race 2 – 6 furlongs, Purse $30,000, Claiming $25,000, 3-year-olds

5 The Phenom – Mike Mitchell is another trainer loving the dirt; this speedball will be aided by the main track bias.

6 Winning Desire – Logical chalk is a dead-late closer; thus for him to win the race will have to fall apart in front.

Long Shot – 4 Leon Ayala

Race 3 – 1 mile, Purse $54,000, Maiden special weights, 3-year-olds

1 Parable – Strong entry from different trainers, Carla Gaines and John Sadler; no shock if either half wins, or they run 1-2.

3 Seeking Solace – John Sadler has an uncoupled entry so caveat emptor; this one gets Garrett Gomez, should improve a lot.

Long Shot – 5 Wegner

Race 4 – 6 furlongs, Purse $31,000, Maiden claiming $50,000, Fillies, 3-year-olds

6 Gladiatrix – It only seems like Bob Baffert is winning every race; did a classic pop and stop in her career debut.

3 River’s Mambo – Taking the biggest class drop in racing from MSW to maiden claiming; hoping to improve on the natural dirt.

Long Shot – 4 Ready Interest

Race 5 – 6 furlongs, Purse $20,000, Claiming $12,500, Fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up

4 Forty Dates – Clever win in last with the bugboy Alex Gonzalez; has lots of back class to run a repeat performance.

2 Ultra Awesome – Tepid chalk in a wide-open affair; Joel Rosario ensures she’ll be overbet, fits well class wise.

Long Shot – 1 Subpoena the Dress

Race 6 – 6 1/2 furlongs (turf, rail at 8 feet), Purse $38,000, Claiming $40,000, 4-year-olds

4 Mr Tokyo – Lost by a dirty head bob last time out; he likes to turf and has handled the hillside course well before.

3 Fandino – P Val had choices and opted to ride for Rafael Becerra; he’s run well down the hill before too.

Long Shot – 8 King Ledley

Race 7 – 1 1/16th miles, $150,000 San Pasqual, 4-year-olds and up

4 Dakota Phone – This is his preferred distance; we know he can run on dirt, just look at his Breeders’ Cup Mile win.

1 Aggie Engineer – Never raced on dirt, but appears to be training well over it; figures to be lone early speed.

Long Shot – 5 Spurrier

Race 8 – 1 mile (turf, rail at 8 feet), Purse $56,000, Optional claiming $25,000, Cal-breds, 4-year-olds and up

5 Control Seeker – He’s been running for $50K up north, $25K down here; the key vote coming from Garrett Gomez.

8 Short Memo – His debut race was emphatic, his synthetic race very average; returns to his likely preferred surface.

Long Shot – 7 Sammartino

Race 9 – 6 furlongs, Purse $23,000, Maiden claiming $30,000, Fillies, 3-year-olds

7 Whiskers and Rye – I guarantee she faced better foes in her debut at Del Mar than she’ll be facing here tonight.

5 McDuffie – Tepid chalk in an interesting finale; if you’re live in the pick 6, I hope you’re spread out a bit.

Long Shot – 12 Stepalize

Best Bet – 4 Tokubetsu (race 1)

Santa Anita Park Friday – Picks/Winners/Mutuels, 16/4/$17.40; Long Shots, 7/2/$30.20; Best Bet, 1/1/$4.40

Santa Anita Park Totals – 148/45/$292.60; Long Shots, 72/10/$109.00; Best Bets, 9/5/$19.60

SIMULCAST PICK OF THE DAY – 6 Sunlit (2/1) in race 2 at Tampa Bay Downs. For scoring purposes, we’ll make a hypothetical $2 win, place and show bet, $6 total. On Friday, Hold The Salt ran second at Tampa Bay Downs paying $3.40 to place and $2.40 to show. Stats – 8/6/$46.40