• URBAN SUITED FOR GRADE III SWEET LIFE STAKES

• D’AMATO DUO PRIMED AND READY FOR SWEET LIFE

• BAFFERT PROUD OF ECLIPSE CHAMPION CORNICHE

• CE CE, PYFER JOIN SANTA ANITA ECLIPSE WINNERS

• EARLY FIRST POST TIME ON SUNDAY IS AT 11 A.M.

 

CALLAGHAN OPTIMISTIC ABOUT URBAN IN SWEET LIFE

Urban steps up from a maiden allowance win to an ultra-contentious Grade III stakes in Saturday’s Sweet Life for three-year-old fillies at about 6 ½ furlongs on turf, but Simon Callaghan is optimistic that conditions suit the daughter of Quality Road.

“I’m sure it’s going to be tough, but this is a perfect distance for her, she training really well and I’m looking forward to it,” said Callaghan, who trains the bay filly for Antony Beck’s Gainesway Stable, LNJ Foxwoods and NK Racing.

“We’ve always felt she’s a turf filly, the way she’s built, and like I said, this is a good distance for her.”

Gainesway is deeply rooted in racing history.

The picturesque working farm encompasses 1,500 of prime real estate in Lexington, Ky., where the former Greentree Stud and Whitney Farm, legendary breeding operations whose decades of prominence once flourished, ensuring their bloodstock’s continued influence on the modern Thoroughbred.

Alex Solis Jr., son of Hall of Fame jockey Alex Solis, is Gainesway’s Director of Bloodstock and Racing.

Santa Anita’s runaway leading rider Flavien Prat, who has ridden Urban in two of her five races, rallying three-deep in her maiden win, is back aboard for the Sweet Life.

Urban worked four furlongs Friday in a bullet 48.60 on Santa Anita’s training track.

The Sweet Life, the ninth of nine races with a 12:30 p.m. first post time: Ellamira, Tyler Baze, 15-1; Ouraika, Juan Hernandez, 4-1; I Got a Gal, Umberto Rispoli, 7-2; Half Past Twelve, Kyle Frey, 15-1; Dolly May, Ryan Curatolo, 8-1; Baby Steps, Mike Smith, 20-1; Kitty Kitana, John Velazquez, 4-1; Impeachd Alexander, Ricardo Gonzalez, 12-1; Urban, Flavien Prat, 5-2; and She’s So Shiny, Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1.

 

D’AMATO OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SWEET LIFE FILLIES

Phil D’Amato, Santa Anita’s second-leading trainer with 15 victories, five behind leader Bob Baffert, has two fillies entered in Saturday’s Sweet Life Stakes, English-bred Kitty Kitana and Irish-bred Impeachd Alexander.

Each has had one start in the United States, both eventful outings at Santa Anita. Kitty Kitana checked early before making a four-wide rally finishing second going 6 ½ furlongs down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course on Jan. 8, while Impeachd Alexander broke slowly and was bumped finishing fourth by two lengths at six furlongs on turf Jan. 16.

Impeachd Alexandra and Kitty Kitana worked five furlongs Wednesday on the dirt training track in 1:01.20 and 1:03.40, respectively.

“I think they’re both primed and ready to go,” said D’Amato, not speaking in a visceral sense. “Each filly is having her second out in this country with nice spacing (between their previous starts, which came in September of 2021 in Ireland).

“I’m looking for them to take a step forward from their previous races. Both are training very well.”

Kitty Kitana is a maiden, having finished second in her only two starts, while Impeachd Alexander’s lone victory came in Ireland last June.

 

BAFFERT: CORNICHE ‘A DESERVING CHAMPION’      

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert was justifiably proud of undefeated and untested Corniche winning an Eclipse Award as Outstanding Two-Year-Old Male of 2021 at the 51^st annual ceremony presented Thursday at Santa Anita.

“He’s a deserving champion,” said the two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer who turned 69 on Jan. 13.  “Corniche was undefeated and getting stronger at the end (of his races, climaxed with a 1 ¾-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last Nov. 5).

“He showed his ability from Day One. He’s got speed and can carry it, and that’s what you want.”

Corniche, of Arabic derivation, is pronounced KOR-nesh and is “a road built along a coast especially on the face of a cliff”).

Ridden by Mike Smith in each of his three races, the $1.5 million Quality Road colt owned by Speedway Stables LLC has been favored each time, twice at odds-on, and has led every step of each race, at 5 ½ furlongs in his debut at Del Mar and at 1 1/16 miles twice, in the Grade I American Pharoah at Santa Anita and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Baffert said a race for the bay’s three-year-old debut has yet to be discussed.

 

CE CE, PYFER JOIN SANTA ANITA-BASED CHAMPIONS

Joining Corniche among Santa Anita-based performers winning Eclipse Awards Thursday were Ce Ce, champion Female Sprinter, and Jessica Pyfer, champion Apprentice Jockey.

Ce Ce won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint by 2 ½ lengths at Del Mar last Nov. 5 under another Santa Anita regular, Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza, who rode the six-year-old daughter of Elusive Quality in each of her six starts last year.

Pyfer, a 23-year-old native of Denver, became the third female to win in her category and the seventh Santa Anita-based rider to win the award, joining Steve Valdez (1973), Tyler Baze (2000), Joe Talamo (2007), Christian Santiago Reyes (2009), Drayden Van Dyke (2014) and Evin Roman (2017).

Pyfer is the daughter of dedicated horsewoman Sheri D’Amato who is married to Phil D’Amato, one of Southern California’s leading trainers and Pyfer’s stepfather.

“My mom has been everything, she’s the one that put me on a horse when I was a few days old,” said Pyfer at last night’s Eclipse Gala.  “I like to say that she forced me to ride, but I’m so glad that she did because I can’t imagine my life without horses…”

Jessica lost her apprenticeship weight allowance last Nov. 13, thereafter becoming a full-fledged journeyman rider.

At the conclusion of the Eclipse Awards ceremony, presented by 1/ST Racing and FanDuel Racing Group, to the surprise of no one, Knicks Go was named Horse of the Year.

 

FINISH LINES: Reminder: there is an early first post time of 11 a.m. Sunday due to Big Game LVI on NBC TV set for a 3:30 p.m. start at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, former site of Hollywood Park. Recent fluctuating odds had the Los Angeles Rams (15-5) a four-point favorite over the upstart Cincinnati Bengals (13-7), with the Rams at minus 195 and the Bengals plus 170 on the money line. Total points were 48 ½.  . . . Santa Anita-based jockeys Abel Cedillo and Edwin Maldonado ride in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields Saturday, the former on Mackinnon for Doug O’Neill and the latter aboard Blackadder for Bob Baffert. O’Neill also sends out Del Mo under Ruben Fuentes . . . Flavien Prat has extended his commanding lead among jockeys at Santa Anita to 44-25 over runner-up John Velazquez, but Tyler Baze is Mr. Consistency with 10 wins, 11 seconds, 11 thirds and an 11 percent winning average from 95 mounts . . . Horseplayer David Nance is host Tom Quigley‘s guest Saturday, 11:20 a.m. in the East Paddock Gardens . . . There were 74 recorded workouts Wednesday, including a bullet five-furlong move by Soothsay in 59.40 for Richard Mandella, who is pointing the Santa Anita Oaks winner to the Grade I Beholder Mile on March 5. There were 107 recorded workouts Friday, 31 on the training track . . . Street Food Cinema Drive-In returns to The Great Race Place in time for Valentine’s Weekend. Online tickets can be purchased in advance for the movies tonight for Beauty and the Beast/Selena; Saturday for Aladdin/Crazy Rich Asians; and Monday for 10 Things I Hate About You/Lady and the Tramp.

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