Exciting Horse Racing Preview: Santa Anita Opening Day

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00:00You wanted to just take a look at some of the big names that are going to be showing

00:06up.

00:07I looked quickly at the opening day card because as we record on Friday, the past performances

00:11came out late on Thursday, 11 races, 110 horses entered.

00:16There's only one field that's got a seven horse field.

00:19Every other field is eight or above.

00:22First post at 2 p.m.

00:23Eastern time, six graded stakes, three grade ones, and in this race, race number seven,

00:28which is the grade two San Gabriel on Saturday.

00:30You have the 2022 winner of the San Gabriel, the 2023 winner of the San Gabriel, but Alexa,

00:37I don't even think they're going to be favored in this race because we've got the Breeders'

00:40Cup mile runner up, Yohannes, in here, who is a perfect six for six at Santa Anita.

00:46Yeah.

00:47I mean, Yohannes is such a strong horse, won seven out of 12 starts, four graded stakes,

00:53almost undefeated this year, and all in graded stakes, but got second place in that mile

00:58behind more than looks, and that was just tough.

01:03That was just tough.

01:04I think if he would have won that one, possibly the Eclipse winner for Best Dancer Horse,

01:09so really will be exciting to see him return, try to make his four-year-old campaign a five

01:14out of six record, all in graded stakes.

01:17We were just looking at the Gulfstream Park races in our first two segments, so we talked

01:20about how there's a big race called the Pegasus next month.

01:24If Yohannes runs well here and stays healthy, he's going to be running in one of those races,

01:28the Pegasus Turf Race on the undercard, so we'll see if that will be the case for Yohannes.

01:33Let's flip to the grade one Malibu.

01:36This is going to go as race number eight.

01:37This one's really exciting because we'll get to see the Kentucky Derby winner from earlier

01:42this year.

01:43Mystic Dan won the Derby, second in the Preakness, but Alexa, he has not run since the Belmont,

01:48which was in June.

01:49For him, this is going to be the first start in almost six months or so, and it's probably

01:54a little bit shorter than where he's going to be at his best.

01:57We know he won at a mile and a quarter in the Kentucky Derby, and they'll want to stretch

02:01him out for big races like maybe the Pegasus, the Saudi Cup, the Dubai World Cup, those

02:06types of races.

02:08I wouldn't be shocked to see him run a really good second or third, and maybe shake some

02:13of the rust off.

02:14He is the type of horse that will get bet because people know that name, and he's going

02:17to take a lot of money.

02:19Mystic Dan, it's just going to be awesome.

02:21I'm really excited.

02:22I'll be out at Santa Anita to get to see the Derby winner.

02:24I'm excited.

02:25I won't be there, but I'm excited to see him run on the screen.

02:28The fact that he hasn't run since the Belmont doesn't really worry me because this summer,

02:32his trainer, Kenny McPeak, said we might not see him until the end of the year.

02:35He deserves a bunch of rest, how much we've asked of him.

02:38This was the plan, to give him a bunch of time off, give him rest, bring him back.

02:42He's working well.

02:43He's embarking on an almost 2,000-mile trip, though, at the start of next week.

02:48That's tough for anybody, but it'll be really exciting to see him run.

02:53Yeah, you'll see some familiar names in there.

02:56Stronghold, we remember from the Kentucky Derby.

02:58He's a Santa Anita Derby winner.

02:59Imagination, we saw in the Preakness.

03:01Raging Torrent and Ben Tornado, they're really good sprinters.

03:04This is more their game than it is Mystic Dan's.

03:08In the 10th race, it's the Phillies that get the spotlight in the La Brea, and wow.

03:14You go through this field.

03:15I think it's a field of 11 of them, and any one of them you can make a case for.

03:19Multiple Graded Stakes winners up and down.

03:22I think some of the headliners in here, Accuracy,

03:24who's been just really sharp as of late.

03:26Yeah, she's super sharp.

03:27A little bit of a late bloomer for the Ripolli stable,

03:30but kind of broke through with a dominant 15th-length victory at Santa Anita,

03:35and then another impressive victory of over seven lengths.

03:38So she'll be tough.

03:41Six Graded Stakes races on opening day at Santa Anita.

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