California Crown guide: Odds, PPs for Santa Anita feature
A field of seven passed the entry box for Saturday's Grade 1, $1,000,000 California Crown Stakes at Santa Anita.
The field is expected to scratch down to six horses with Indispensible opting for the Oklahoma Derby on Sunday, but quality abounds for the 1 1/8-mile heat with Bob Baffert entering National Treasure, Muth, and Newgate. Senor Buscador is also among the contenders for the race formerly known as the Awesome Again Stakes.
Post time for the California Crown, race 9 of 10 at the Great Race Place, is 7:43 p.m. EDT. FanDuel TV, NBC and Peacock will have live coverage of the stakes-laden program.
Check out Horse Racing Nation’s free past performances page today for downloadable PPs for the California Crown and more courtesy of our partners at Brisnet.
We also have Super Screener picks and analysis for the California Crown as well as recent top speed figures for each contender.
California Crown best speed figures
| Post | Horse | ML | Beyer | TimeformUS | HRN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newgate | 6-1 | 99 | 120 | 101 |
| 2 | Subsanador | 5-1 | 99 | 121 | 106 |
| 3 | National Treasure | 8-5 | 105 | 132 | 107 |
| 4 | Katonah | 15-1 | 98 | 122 | 101 |
| 5 | Muth | 2-1 | 98 | 122 | 102 |
| 6 | Señor Buscador | 6-1 | 105 | 128 | 107 |
| scr | Indispensable |
Looking at the pace
National Treasure is projected to make a fairly easy lead, with Muth sitting an isolated second. Señor Buscador is expected to set up shop in last, as usual.
Pace Projector appears courtesy of TimeformUS.
HRN picks
This week's Super Screener has identified a live long shot on the California Crown undercard in King of Gosford at 15-1 in the Grade 2 Eddie D. Stakes.
Buy the special Now through Breeders' Cup Super Screener package for just $77, a value of over $400, and get analysis for the California Crown Stakes and more.
Ed DeRosa’s California Crown fair odds believe that Bob Baffert will win this race, but not with who you might think.
DeRosa also took a look at the other Grade 1 prep for the Breeders Cup Classic in his Woodward fair odds. See why he thinks Skippylongstocking will use his speed to his advantage.
DeRosa's Classic prep trifecta wraps up with his Lukas Classic fair odds, and much like in the Woodward, speed should prove effective with Cooke Creek.
Chip Gehrke's latest divisional rankings see the California Crown as arguably the strongest handicap race of the year, as National Treasure tops his board in this division.
J. Keeler Johnson's latest Horses to Watch column spans the continent with stakes contenders at Woodbine with Paramount Prince, Belmont with War Like Goddess and Santa Anita with Muth.
The California Crown card is the focus of this week's Ron Flatter Racing Pod with Zoe Cadman, Todd Fincher, Mike Shutty and John Cherwa sharing their thoughts.