Melatonin and Talamo springs upset in the 2016 "Big Cap"
The 2016 Santa Anita Handicap field will not go down as one of the more talented groups in the race’s rich history and the final time was far from flashy, but veteran trainer David Hofmans and jockey Joe Talamo took advantage of the opportunity to score a gate-to-wire win in Saturday’s $1 million featured event on a picture perfect day in Arcadia, California. The gelding that had won three of ten career starts coming into the “Big Cap” defeated eight rivals to take down the lion’s share of the seven-digit purse. It was four and a quarter lengths back to 2015 Gold Cup winner Hard Aces in second. 7-5-favorite Effinex was a non-threatening third.
When they turned for home in the “Big Cap” you would have thought Melatonin was the heavy favorite, not 16-1 on the toteboard. By the time they reached the wire, the son of Kodiak Kowboy had disposed of a subpar group of Grade I runners for his first stakes victory.
Melatonin took the field of older males through an opening half-mile of 46.28 seconds and inched away leaving the second turn. When it was time for the real running to start, the majority of the field was under a drive. Meanwhile, jockey Joe Talamo had not yet asked his mount to run. Under steady left handed urging, the veteran California rider drew clear en route to his first “Big Cap” victory. It was also Hofmans first win in the Santa Anita winter meeting’s headline event.
After the big win, Talamo was extremely excited, “What a tremendous effort. I think I need some Melatonin right now to calm down from it. “ In discussing the voyage he declared, “We had a great trip, he broke real sharp and I just put him up there and fortunately he was going so easily. When I got to the first turn, they backed off him a bit and so I was able to give him a breather and he opened up turning for him.”
Runner-up Hard Aces had not hit the board in five starts since a thrilling stretch run victory against Hoppertunity in last June’s Grade I Gold Cup at Santa Anita, but the six-year-old son of Hard Spun angled in to save ground early, swung wide when they hit the stretch and plodded home to a lucrative second place effort under jockey Abel Lezcano. Post-race Lezcano said, “Coming out (of the turn) I provoked him a bit, got him going and was able to maintain good speed but in the end it wasn’t enough.” While Hard Aces has not done much running in the bulk of his starts in Southern California, with two solid efforts at the “Great Race Place” he has been good enough to build his career earnings to over $800,000.
The favorite Effinex stalked early and on the backstretch and appeared to be in perfect pouncing position throughout, but lacked the needed rally when they hit the stretch and finished a disappointing third in his first start since his win in the Grade I Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs in November. He likely needed the race and should run better in his next few starts for trainer James Jerkens.
Second choice Donworth gets the reward for most adventurous trip of the afternoon. The Tiznow colt broke poorly and then found a spot just off the pace while pulling under a hard hold from jockey Mario Gutierrez. He continued to tug his way up the rail leaving the backstretch before steading into the second turn and costing himself all chance. A tough luck first try against Grade I company for the Reddam Racing runner. Gutierrez was short in words after the frustrating trip stating, “It was a rough trip. It was just a tough trip, that’s all.”
The tenth race on the eleven race card was run in front of a crowd at Santa Anita Park of 27,259. The winner paid $34.60, $13.80, and $6.00. Hard Aces paid $19.20 and $7.20. Effinex paid $2.80 to Show. The $1 Trifecta 2-7-5 returned $951.70. The race was run in a final time of 2:02.01.