Longshot Batti Man Wins at Santa Anita

Longshot Batti Man sat a close second early and went on to post a 1 ¾ length upset in Friday’s $60,000 Santa Anita allowance feature, covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.75.  Trained by Kristin Mulhall, Argentine-bred Batti Man shadowed Secretsatmidnight to the far turn, took command approaching the quarter pole and easily held You Know I Know at bay through the stretch drive for the win.

Entered for an optional claiming tag of $62,500, Batti Man was off at 5-1 in a field of six older horses and paid $12.80, $4.80 and $3.80.  Owned by Tom Mansor, Batti Man, a 7-year-old gelding by the Unbridled stallion Manipulator, improved his record to 31-4-6-4.  With the winner’s share of $36,000, he increased his earnings to $223,234.

“He’s versatile,” said Smith.  “He can have a lot of speed and you can take him back now in his older age.  When he was younger, you probably couldn’t, but now you can…He was just ready today and Kristin has done a great job with him.”

Ridden by Edwin Maldonado, You Know I Know stalked the winner around the far turn and was second best, finishing 1 ¼ lengths in front of Bailoutbobby.  Off at 5-1, You Know I Know paid $5.80 and $3.20.

Bailoutbobby rallied from next to last turning for home under Elvis Trujillo and ran third, some 7 ¼ lengths in front of favored Govenor Charlie.  Off at 7-2, BailoutBobby paid $2.60 to show.

Idle since April, 2014, Govenor Charlie didn’t show his customary early zip and was never a factor at 4-5.

Fractions on the race were 23.19, 46.20, 1:09.82 and 1:35.04.

Source: Santa Anita Park