Santa Anita: New Track, New Records

A bridesmaid in her last two starts, both Grade 1 stakes, 3-year-old filly Switch raised her game to the next level on Sunday in Santa Anita’s La Brea Stakes (gr.1). On opening day at Santa Anita, Switch burst from the gates in the La Brea Stakes, patiently biding her time down the backstretch before blowing past her rivals on the rail and running away to a 4 length victory in a stakes record time of 1.:20.33, beating the 1993 mark of 1:20.45 set by Mamselle Bebette.

The new dirt track was playing fast all day and Switch’s record run was the second record of the day to fall after promising 2-year-old The Factor set a 6 furlong track record of 1:06.98.

The La Brea capped what has been a fantastic year for Switch. On June 6^th Switch defeated leading 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award candidate and heavily favored Blind Luck in the Hollywood Oaks (gr.2). On October 2^nd Switch finished half a length behind super-star Zenyatta in the Lady’s Secret Stakes (gr.1) and then followed that impressive performance up with another second place finish behind Dubai Majesty in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (gr.1).  The La Brea was the filly’s first race since finishing second at the Breeders’ Cup and trainer John Sadler had his filly sharp as a razor.

It will be interesting to see what this talented filly can do next year as she continues to grow and mature. It appears that all of the best sophomore fillies of 2010 will be returning to race in 2011, Blind Luck, Evening Jewel and now Switch.

If there was ever any doubt that Sidney’s Candy might not be as good as his record setting La Jolla romp in August

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suggested, the fabulous colt set all those doubts to rest with an all-too-easy victory in the Sir Beaufort (gr.3). After his incredible La Jolla romp, Sidney’s Candy went almost three months without a prep race straight to the Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr.1) where he finished sixth to one of the greatest race mares in history, Goldikova, three time Breeders’ Cup Mile champion and international super-star.

Given the proper time and training regimen between races this time Sidney’s Candy was back to his old brilliant self, winning the Sir Beaufort by more than 7 lengths with careless ease. Running over Santa Anita’s brand new dirt surface after wet conditions on Saturday forced the race to be moved from the turf to the main course, Sidney’s Candy took the field gate to wire in his typical speed-ball fashion.

The Sir Beaufort made for the second graded stakes score of the day for trainer John Sadler who sadly missed the action live as he was laid up with a bad knee.

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A mere couple of hours later Sadler’s incredible string of graded stakes victories continued as Twirling Candy won a thrilling stretch battle with Smiling Tiger in the Malibu Stakes (Gr.1), making it a clean sweep of all three graded stakes races on opening day.

Making a three-wide move on the far turn, Twirling Candy swept into contention entering the homestretch and immediately hooked up with Smiling Tiger on the lead. Those two battled it out the entire length of the stretch with Twirling Candy finally thrusting his nose in front at the wire in a spectacular time of 1:19.70, effectively breaking the old dirt track record of 1:20 flat set by the great Spectacular Bid in 1980.

If the Malibu is any indication of what we can expect from Twirling Candy in the future than we should be in for a very promising older horse next year. Trainer John Sadler certainly thinks so.

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The Native Diver Handicap

A month after lighting up the tote board at Churchill Downs with winning odds of 37-1, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Dakota Phone returns to California to contest the Grade 3 Native Diver Handicap. Coming from dead last in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Dakota Phone made an impressive run on the far outside coming into the homestretch to nab talented 3-year-old Morning Line at the wire. Stretching out from the distance of a mile to 1 1/8 miles distance in the Native Diver should be no problem for the Breeders’ Cup champion with his closing style. He has only won 2 of 11 starts in 2010 but consistently runs well, expect him to be competitive.

Another Breeders’ Cup contender also returns to action in the Native Diver as Romp runs for the first time since his Breeders’ Cup Marathon fiasco. Romp and jockey Martin Garcia survived what could have been a near-fatal accident on the final turn of the Breeders’ Cup Marathon when Prince Will I am with Javier Castellano up cut the pair off entering the homestretch. Displaying incredible athleticism, Romp fell to his knees and picked himself up all in the same motion while jockey Garcia flew out of the saddle and somehow managed to land back on Romp as the colt struggled to get back in the race.

The 6-year-old gelding had absolutely no shot in the Marathon but he emerged from the incident unscathed and appears ready to run his best. He cuts back in distance from the 1 ¾ miles Marathon distance to 1 1/8 miles in the Native Diver, but considering he was unable to run a competitive race the length of Churchill’s homestretch this could be the perfect move for him.

Soul Candy enters the Native Diver with the best 2010 record in the field. He has won three of his last four starts and

comes in fresh off a victory in the 1 1/8 mile California Cup Classic on October 30^th over the Hollywood Park surface. He ran down Del Mar Mile Handicap (g.3) winner and favored Enriched in the California Cup Classic to win by 1 ¼ lengths in a hand ride. With a victory over the Hollywood surface and at the same distance as the Native Diver, you have to think this 4-year-old son of Birdonthewire is in a good position entering the native Diver and seems to be improving at the right time.

The rest of the field is made up by Philatelist, Aggie Engineer, Achak and Spurrier.

Soul Candy looks the best in this field, especially coming off a win over the surface and at the same the distance as the Native Diver. Soul Candy’s grinding style should prove just as effective in the Native Diver if given a clear running path. His biggest threat could come from Dakota Phone who displays a great turn of foot on his best day. I think Dakota Phone, while having run very competitively over synthetics, is a better runner on the dirt.

Romp is a question mark here. Not having been able to finish his last race properly it’s hard to know where he is right now and how to place him. Instinct says that he will run well and trainer Kristin Mulhall is expecting a big effort from the gelding.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving, Enjoy the races this weekend!