Santa Anita: Fields are set for rescheduled California Cup day

Santa Anita, which canceled weekend cards because of the Los Angeles County fires, will host five straight days of live racing starting Thursday and ending with a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day program Monday. Highlighting the week ahead is California Cup day on Saturday, which features many of the best horses bred or sired in California.

California Cup day will have five stakes for state-breds worth $775,000 in total prize money. They are the $175,000 California Cup Derby, the $175,000 California Cup Oaks, the $175,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic, the $125,000 California Cup Sprint and the $125,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint on the hillside turf course.

Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.

The first post on California Cup day is 2:30 p.m. EST for an 11-race card. The California Cup Derby features a rematch of Shea Brennan and I’m a Bad Boy, who were separated by just a nose when running one-two in last month’s King Glorious Stakes for state-breds at Los Alamitos

Shea Brennan is trained by Phil D’Amato for owner-breeder Nick Alexander. The colt by Tough Sunday set the pace in the one-mile King Glorious and gamely held off a late challenge from I’m a Bad Boy to earn his first stakes win. I’m a Bad Boy, a gelding by Stay Thirsty, is trained by Luis Mendez for owner C T R Stables.

The Unusual Heat Turf Classic attracted a highly competitive field of 11. On the Whim is a two-time state-bred stakes winner for Harris Farms and trainer Dean Pederson. Jimmy Blue Jeans exits a win against open company in a second-level allowance at a mile on turf for trainer Jeff Mullins and owners Perry Bruno and Amy Gezon. Veteran Grade 2 winner None Above the Law returns to the state-bred ranks following a sixth in the Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) in November for trainer Jorge Periban and owner Hector Castrellon.

Old Pal is a state-bred stakes winner for trainer Mark Glatt and an ownership group that includes Blinkers On Racing Stable, Carolyn Corbett and Jai Desai. Glatt also entered Aligato, who was third when beaten by just a half-length in last year’s Unusual Heat Turf Classic.

The California Cup Oaks is a wide-open affair with 12 3-year-old fillies and one also-eligible prepared to compete. As many as six of the runners exit last month’s Soviet Problem Stakes for state-breds going one mile on dirt at Los Alamitos including winner Hey Jessie for trainer Sean McCarthy and owner Sayjay Racing.

The Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint is led by Stay and Scam, a multiple stakes winner vs. state-breds who also placed in two Grade 3s last year for trainer Doug O’Neill and Reddam Racing.

In the Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint, Grade 3 winner Big City Lights looms large for trainer Richard Mandella and owner William Peeples. Big City Lights exits an 8 1/2-length romp in the seven-furlong Cary Grant Stakes for state-breds at Del Mar on Nov. 9. The new face in the lineup is promising Smiling Beast, who makes his stakes debut after winning his first two starts against state-breds. He is trained by Brian Koriner for owners Rusty Brown, Alan Klein and Philip Lebherz.