Footstepsinbronze Puts Best Foot Forward
Favored Footstepsinbronze saved ground at the rail and went on to a comfortable 1 ¼ length win under Rafael Bejarano in Thursday’s $60,000 The Dream Team allowance feature at Santa Anita, as he covered one mile on turf in 1:37.94.
Owned by Adam Richey and trained by Simon Callaghan, the 4-year-old Irish-bred colt bested seven rivals as he improved his overall record to 7-3-3-0. Off at 2-1, he paid $6.20, $3.40 and $2.60. With the winner’s share of $36,000, Footstepsinbronze increased he earnings to $152,250.
“Coming into the stretch, I definitely wanted him to switch off his left lead, but he didn’t want to,” said Bejarano, who sat a close third before splitting horses two-wide at the top of the stretch. “In the last sixteenth though, he did switch and he showed me a big kick.”
(Bejarano, who entered the 24th day of Santa Anita’s Spring Meeting atop the jockey standings with Tyler Baze at 23 wins, picked up his third win on the card).
“I was a little worried about how slow the turf has been playing but he looked so great in the paddock,” said Callaghan, who has had Footstepsinbronze for all seven of his starts. “I knew he was going to run a good race. He’s been training really well…We’ll probably wait for Del Mar and look for an overnight stake now. He’s only getting better and he likes Del Mar.”
Next to last early, runner-up Jules Journey finished well and just held Texas Ryano off by a neck for the place. Ridden by Santiago Gonzalez, Jules Journey was off at 7-2 and paid $4.60 and $3.00.
With Joe Talamo up, Texas Ryano was last early and closed with a rush toward the middle of the course to finish third, 1 ¼ lengths clear of pacesetter Home School. Off at 5-2, “Tex” paid $2.80 to show.
Ridden by Felipe Valdez, Irish-bred Home School bounced to the lead and
set fractions of 25.03, 49.64, 1:13.35 and 1:25.57.
Source: Santa Anita Park