Post-Race Review
At eight-years-old, Magnum (ARG) is still going strong, and CASE numbers paved the way for a 16 – 1 victory over Well Armed and Tiago in the San Antonio Handicap (gr. II) at Santa Anita. Well Armed ran away with an easy lead, setting drastically slow fractions, such as a :25 opening quarter, but Magnum ran down that rival in the stretch and drew away to win under jockey Joel Roasario for trainer Darrell Vienna. Tiago also tried to close into the crawling pace and finished third.
Coming into this event, Magnum earned strong CASE ratings in a comeback race in January, where he also beat Well Armed, who went off at much lower odds. Now a gelding, Magnum races for Herrick Racing, LLC, and paid $35.80.
Pre-Race Analysis
The San Antonio Handicap (gr. II) is Santa Anita’s feature for Sunday, February 8th. This $200,000 race over 1 1/8 miles generally draws the best older horses in the state, who are competing for a spot in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) starting gate one month from now.
The field was reduced to nine after the scratches of Becrux (ITY) and Stream Cat, but an extremely competitive group of older runners are left in the gate, headlined by three standouts from 2008. Well Armed, from the Eoin Harty barn, is the narrow early favorite. After finishing a narrow second in the $1 million Pacific Classic (gr. I) in August, Well Armed won the Goodwood Handicap (gr. I) with a 92 for Aerobic Efficiency over the same course and distance in September before running a shocking 9th in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. On January 10th, Well Armed returned to the races and finished a fourth behind Cowboy Cal in the San Pasqual Handicap (gr. II). Cowboy Cal returned to win again yesterday in the Strub Stakes (gr. II).
Champs Elysees (GB) is a multiple Grade 1 winner on the turf, and is the second choice. This royally bred son of Danehill is exiting a win in the Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. I) over 1 1/2 miles on the turf, which is probably Champs Elysees’ preferred surface (the horse has five wins on the turf and none on the synthetic in two tries). The Hollywood Turf Cup win earned an 87 for both Stride Quality and Endurance.
Although Tiago may not be fully cranked for this race, as is typical for his trainer John Shirreffs, but the five-year-old brother to 2005 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Giacomo loves this distance, with four graded stakes victories going 1 1/8 miles in seven attempts. Five for seventeen lifetime, Tiago has banked over $2.3 million. In the Breeders’ Cup Classic on October 25th, Tiago finished third, ahead of the 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin, and earned a 90 for Stride Quality with an 87 average.
In a race devoid of any horses with major CASE numbers, Magnum may be an interesting pick at 10 – 1 morning line. Off since July of last year, Magnum returned in the San Pasqual and finished third, ahead of Well Armed, earning a 98 for Aerobic Efficiency. This classy older gelding was once finishing narrowly behind Lava Man, and has the back class to run well here.
Informed on the outside is coming off of a 2nd place finish to Cowboy Cal in that San Pasqual, and Ferneley (IRE) has been running strong speed figures on the turf lately.
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Emily Shields s a regular contributor to Case the Race. She has written for California Thoroughbred, Churchill Downs media, and international racing magazines.
