First Look: Mystik Dan, White Abarrio, Johannes star in stakes

Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, Eclipse Award candidate Johannes and $5 million earner White Abarrio provide the crescendo this week to the 2024 racing season.

After six months off, Mystik Dan races in the Grade 1, $300,000 Malibu Stakes, the christening feature Thursday for Santa Anita’s 90th-anniversary winter-spring season. On the same card Johannes tries for his fifth graded triumph of the year when he starts on the turf in the San Gabriel (G2).

Three-time Grade 1 victor White Abarrio is entered in the Mr. Prospector (G3) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, the same day as the Joe Hernández (G2) at Santa Anita will be the last U.S. graded stakes run in 2024.

Between the flagship Stronach tracks on each coast, nine graded stakes are on the horizon this week.

Thursday

Malibu (G1), Santa Anita, 7 furlongs, 3-year-olds

After a 1,900-mile trailer trip from Louisiana last week, Mystik Dan makes his first start since June, when he finished eighth for trainer Kenny McPeek in the Belmont Stakes. He will try to land his second Grade 1 victory this year, joining rival 3-year-old males Dornoch, Fierceness, Seize the Grey and Sierra Leone. Where Mystik Dan cuts back, Bentornato stretches for this race after placing second in the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He had three minor stakes wins as a 2-year-old sprinter at Gulfstream Park and more recently scored in the Gallant Bob (G2) covering six furlongs Sept. 21 at Parx.

La Brea (G1), Santa Anita, 7 furlongs, 3-year-old fillies

Hope Road was a maiden when she was moved from John Sadler to trainer Bob Baffert. She has not lost since, going 4-for-4 this year including a pair of Grade 3 victories at Del Mar. Her stablemate Kinza as well as Kopion, One Magic Philly, Sugar Fish and Tamara are graded-stakes winners who will challenge Hope Road. So will undefeated fillies Cavalieri, who also comes from Baffert’s barn, and Sandy Bottom. Late-blooming stakes debutante Accuracy broke her maiden by 15 lengths two starts back, earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

American Oaks (G1), Santa Anita, 1 1/4 miles, downhill turf, 3-year-old fillies

Two-time Grade 1 winner She Feels Pretty has made herself at home in John Sadler’s Santa Anita barn since trainer Cherie DeVaux had her flown west from Kentucky nearly two weeks ago. The question is whether she brought her dominant form. In her most recent assignment two months ago, the Karakontie filly ran away by six lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1). A top-two result Thursday would make She Feels Pretty a millionaire for owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson.

San Gabriel (G2), Santa Anita, 1 1/8 miles, turf, 3-year-olds and up

Because of sore legs, Johannes got an 11-month break before he made his 4-year-old debut in April. Four wins and a close second later, he might be the champion turf male of 2024. Bred and owned by Joe and Debby McCloskey and trained by Tim Yakteen, Johannes stayed home in Southern California to string together victories in the American (G3), Shoemaker Mile (G1), Eddie Read (G2) and City of Hope Mile (G2). The Nyquist colt came charging late in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar, coming up just three-quarters of a length short of catching More Than Looks.

Laffit Pincay Jr. (G2), Santa Anita, 1 1/16 miles, 3-year-olds and up

First, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano got hurt. Then Skinner, who won last month’s Native Diver (G3) at Del Mar, was transferred from John Shirreffs to DeVaux with plans for this winter at Fair Grounds. The role of morning-line favorite fell to Katonah, whose last stakes win came in July during the Alameda County Fair meet at Pleasanton. Second choice Tarantino, a $40,000 claim this summer, was a surprisingly close second to Skinner in the Native Diver. Third choice Express Train is the biggest name left in this race that used to be the San Antonio, but he has not won in his five starts since the 2022 Santa Anita Handicap (G1).

Mathis Mile (G2), Santa Anita, 1 mile, turf, 3-year-olds

In his eight starts since he came over from Ireland, King of Gosford has four wins, two seconds and a third for trainer Phil D’Amato. He flirted with Grade 1 success last out, making a late bid only to come up three-quarters of a length short of Formidable Man on Nov. 30 in the 1 1/8-mile Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. That second-place finish left rivals Stay Hot and Atitlan in his grassy dust. Those two are meeting for the fifth time in a row, with Stay Hot holding a 3-1 advantage.

Friday

Robert J. Frankel (G3), Santa Anita, 1 1/8 miles, turf, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up

Deep-closing Hang the Moon was not suited for the slow pace in the 1 3/8-mile Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Del Mar, where she finished last. A cutback in distance and class could be just what D’Amato ordered for this 4-year-old daughter of the late Uncle Mo. Hang the Moon came off a 10-month break and a barn switch to start the year with three wins and a second. Her best scores came in the 1 1/8-mile John C. Mabee (G2) at Del Mar and the 1 1/4-mile Rodeo Drive (G2) at Santa Anita.

Saturday

Mr. Prospector (G3), Gulfstream Park, 7 furlongs, 3-year-olds and up

After winning an allowance race last month over the same course and distance as Saturday’s race, White Abarrio looks for his first graded triumph since the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. This will be his second start since lead owner C2 Racing Stable sent him back to Saffie Joseph Jr. from trainer Rick Dutrow. White Abarrio never before has gone shorter than a mile in a stakes. In graded races around one turn, he is 4: 0-0-2, most recently finishing fifth in the Met Mile (G1).

Joe Hernández (G2), Santa Anita, 6 1/2 furlongs, hillside turf, 3-year-olds and up

This race represents a crossroads for an accomplished field. Three-time Grade 3 winner Motorious, a 6-year-old gelding, stretches back from the five furlongs at which he finished second by just a neck in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Air Force Red, a 6-year-old ridgling, has won 4 of 8 starts at this distance on the downhill course, most recently finishing second Sept. 28 in the Eddie D (G2). Unconquerable Keen, a 5-year-old gelding, and Sorrento Sky, a 3-year-old colt bred in Ireland, come in off their one-two finish in the five-furlong Stormy Liberal on Dec. 1 at Del Mar.