Santa Anita: 18-1 long shot stuns big names in allowance upset

An 18-1 long shot in a field of five older horses who was the lone California-bred in the lineup, See Through It rallied wide turning for home en route to a 1 1/4-length win Friday in a six-furlong, $75,000 allowance race at Santa Anita, where trainer Bob Baffert’s odds-on favorite Hopkins tired late off of a 10-month layoff.

Based at Los Alamitos with trainer Salvador Naranjo and ridden for the first time since November 2021 by Tiago Pereira, See Through It sat a patient trip about four lengths off of both Hopkins and 10-year-old, $2 million earner C Z Rocket heading into the turn.

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Content to keep his mount four deep approaching the quarter pole, Pereira stayed busy through the drive and picked up the tiring speed in a huge performance.

“There were a few fresh horses in the race, and we thought they’d be going for the lead, and they did,” Naranjo said. “I told Tiago, ‘Just hang back two or three lengths behind them if you can, and see if you can get him to relax, and then ask him turning for home.”

When Naranjo was asked if he thought before the race he had a chance to win, he said, “Yes I did. The horse is feeling great right now, and he’s been training great. He’s shown a little class before. He won a stake at Golden Gate.” That was nine starts back vs. Cal-breds on Feb. 18.

Most recently seventh going five furlongs on turf in open company in the ungraded Stormy Liberal Stakes at Del Mar on Dec. 2, See Through It paid $38.00, $8.20 and $3.00.

A 7-year-old gelding by Curlin to Mischief, See Through It was bred in California by Edward Allred. Originally trained by Art Sherman of California Chrome fame, See Through It was claimed out of a maiden $3,500 win at Los Alamitos on May 29, 2020, in his third start.

The winner’s share of $58,500, which included a California-bred incentive bonus of $13,500, brought See Through It’s total earnings to $351,712.

Owned by Belico Racing and Lizbeth Medina, See Through It’s overall race record is 30: 8-7-5.

A winner of Santa Anita’s Palos Verdes Stakes (G3) two starts back Feb. 5, Hopkins had been on the bench since running a close fourth in the $2 million Golden Shaheen Stakes (G1) in Dubai on March 25. Off at 4-5 Friday with Juan Hernandez, Hopkins was pressed throughout on the lead by C Z Rocket and paid the price late, returning $2.60 and $2.10 after finishing second, 2 1/4 lengths in front of C Z.

A winner of a six-furlong, classified allowance going six furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 25, multiple graded-stakes-winning gelding C Z Rocket, trained by Peter Miller and ridden by Flavien Prat, was off at 5-2 and paid $2.10 to show.

The winning time was 1:09.26 on a fast track following early fractions of 22.14, 44.54 and 56.75.