Santa Anita: Full Serrano leads field of 7 for Grade 1 Goodwood

Last year’s Dirt Mile winner Full Serrano could qualify for this year’s $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday. That is when he goes in the 44th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Goodwood Stakes, the opening-weekend feature of Santa Anita’s fall meet.

Reverting to its original name after being branded for 12 years as the Awesome Again and last year as the $1 million California Crown, the 1 1/8-mile Goodwood is scheduled to start just after 8 p.m. EDT.

Click here for Santa Anita entries and results.

Full Serrano, a 6-year-old entire sired in Argentina by Full Mast, makes only the second start since his Breeders’ Cup victory last fall at Del Mar. Owned by Hronis Racing and trained by John Sadler, he missed 10 months for an unspecified injury. Full Serrano came back to win by 7 1/4 lengths Sept. 1 in a $100,000 allowance race covering a mile at Del Mar. He is 3-for-4 in the U.S. with the lone loss being by a half-length finishing second to Mixto in the 2024 Pacific Classic (G1). Southern California’s leading jockey Juan Hernández rides from the outside post.

First Mission finished second as the 1-5 favorite Aug. 16 in the 1 1/16-mile Philip H. Iselin (G3) at Monmouth Park. Trained by Brad Cox, Godolphin’s homebred 5-year-old Street Sense horse won the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 19 and finished third to Mindframe and Sierra Leone in the Stephen Foster (G1) on June 28 at Churchill Downs. With $2,209,270 in earnings, First Mission drew post 4 and gets Paco López as his fifth different rider in 15 starts.

Trainer Bob Baffert’s three Goodwood entrants include Gaming, a 3-year-old Game Winner colt who faces older horses for the first time. He finished last of only three starters Aug. 31 in the one-mile Shared Belief at Del Mar. Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman own the three-time winner who last scored June 8 against three rivals in the 1 1/16-mile Affirmed at Santa Anita. Jockey Mike Smith races Gaming for the first time and starts from the rail post.

Lightly raced Nevada Beach is another Baffert 3-year-old getting his first chance against older rivals in the Goodwood. Also owned by Pegram, Watson and Weitman, he won the Los Alamitos Derby going 1 1/8 miles June 28. That was the third start for the Omaha Beach colt who won his one-mile debut April 19 and finished second to Gaming on June 8 in the Affirmed. Kyle Frey replaces Hernández and starts from post 5.

Privman, yet another Baffert-trained 3-year-old, beat older horses in both his maiden-breaking effort and a last-out allowance race, each going one mile this summer at Del Mar. Owned by the big partnership led by SF Racing, the Justify colt started his career with three second-place finishes in one-turn races. Antonio Fresu and Privman break from post 3.

Express Train, the 8-year-old Union Rags entire who has $1,639,800 in earnings, has not won since the 2022 Santa Anita Handicap (G1). Trained by John Shirreffs for C R K Stable, he is 10: 0-3-3 since. His most recent effort was his rally to finish third Aug. 23 in the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien (G2) at Del Mar. Héctor Berrios rides from post 6.

Ultimate Gamble, a $6,000 supplement to the race, comes in off a third-place finish to Fierceness and Journalism on Aug. 30 as a 71-1 long shot in the Pacific Classic (G1). The 5-year-old Medaglia d’Oro horse who cost $1.75 million at a 2022 sale, has two allowance wins since he broke his maiden in 2023 on second asking. Owned by Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal and trained by Mark Glatt, Ultimate Gamble gets Kazushi Kimura and post 2 on Saturday.

The Goodwood is one of the five graded stakes on Santa Anita’s Saturday card, which starts at 4 p.m. EDT.

Horse Racing Nation speed figures are shown in parentheses.