Stevens knows Kobe's Back will be motoring late in the Triple Bend

Kobe’s Back may not win Saturday’s Grade I Triple Bend Stakes, but one thing seems certain: he’ll come a-runnin’ late.

The five-year-old Flatter horse trained by Peter Eurton for the C R K Stable of Lee and Susan Searing typically overcomes a slow start and picks up his rivals in the stretch.

Regular rider Gary Stevens expects The Gray Ghost to do the same thing in the seven furlong Triple Bend, which offers $300,000 in purse money.

“He always shows up,” said Stevens, just back from riding full time in Kentucky. “The question is how he’s going to perform out of the gate. He is what he is. There’s nothing I can do about it, nothing Pete can do about.

“We just hope he breaks in the same area code (with the rest of the field). He always runs his race and he’s been training great. His workouts leading up to this race have been good. Iggy (Puglisi) has been working him for me while I’ve been gone. The reports coming back to me have been great.

“I always light up when I get to ride him. It’s fun, and I enjoy it.”

The Triple Bend: Clever Royal, Martin Pedroza; Kobe’s Back, Gary Stevens; Cautious Giant, Fernando Perez; Lord Nelson, Rafael Bejarano; Ambitious Brew, Kent Desormeaux; Subtle Indian, Mike Smith; Home Run Kitten, Joe Talamo; and Coastline, Tyler Baze.

TWO RIVALS HELP SAVE HORSES FROM WILDFIRE

(Reprinted from the Pasadena Star-News)

By Courtney Tompkins, The Pasadena Star-News

When two brush fires erupted in the mountains above the San Gabriel Valley earlier this week prompting mandatory evacuations in some cities, residents moved quickly, taking clothes, their pets and a few important documents with them to safer ground.

As the winds picked up Monday afternoon, pushing flames dangerously close to several farms in the foothills, the calls from concerned horse owners began to roll in.

There were nearly 200 horses that needed to be evacuated and not much time to do it.

“The fire was so close to the ranches there in the mountains, so there was a real sense of urgency because it was so hot and dry with the potential to move so quickly,” said Mike Willman, a spokesman for Santa Anita Park.

Two rival horse transport companies pooled their resources, sending drivers into treacherous territory to safely remove the animals from the fire zone.

As smoke filled the air and helicopters hovered overhead, the horses were led out of their stables and into waiting horse hauling trailers.

Kerrie Cargill, who owns KC Horse Transport, described it as a sort of organized chaos.

“I had two drivers come off of vacation to help and I had drivers sleeping at Santa Anita in their trucks so if something happened during the night they could get there quickly,” she said.

The toughest thing, she said, was moving so many horses without a plan.

Cargill reached out to Tom Hubbard, owner of Bob Hubbard Horse Transport, and together the pair secured seven trucks, each with a maximum capacity of 15 horses.

“All of our guys just jumped in,” Cargill said. “It takes manpower to move that many horses that quickly.”

Some workers from Santa Anita also headed up the mountain to help save horses from rival stables, she said.

Allen Severinsen, a booking agent for Hubbard, said in the normal scheme of things these companies rarely work together. “This is different,” he said. “In the horse world, people will do what they have to do in times of crisis and that’s because we all love the horse.”

Although he’s not a driver by trade, Severinsen does have the required license to drive a horse truck or trailer so he worked alongside Cargill and her team late Monday and into Tuesday, driving load after load away from the fires.

He said they evacuated horses from various ranches in the area including the Encanto Equestrian Center in Duarte, Rainbow Ranch in Azusa and Bliss Canyon Thoroughbred Farms in Bradbury. Some were taken to vacant stables at Santa Anita Park while the rest were transported to the Fairplex in Pomona.

Renee Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Fairplex, said the facility had taken in 200 horses as of Wednesday morning. It took in a healthy mix of racehorses, show horses and even some pet horses, she said.

“When this all started on Monday it was pretty hectic around here,” she said.

Citrus Feed Co. in La Verne donated food and bedding for the horses and helped ready the stalls for the animals’ arrival.

“The whole community just jumped in to help,” Cargill said. “It was heartwarming to see.”

Evacuation orders were lifted for some Duarte residents Wednesday, but Los Angeles County sheriff’s Cmdr. David Halm said RVs, trailers and livestock such as horses won’t be allowed in because the fire department needs to be able to operate its vehicles in neighborhood streets in case a fire breaks out.

Hubbard and Cargill said they are on standby, waiting for word from local authorities to go pick up the horses and take them home.       

For now, Hernandez said the horses have all been fed and appear quite comfortable in their stalls.

“I just came back from the stables right now and everything is quiet,” she said. “They are all chomping on some carrots, so to me it looks like they are having a good time.”

FINISH LINES: There is a Pick Six carryover of $64,204 into today’s races. The total pool is expected to exceed $250,000 . . . American Cleopatra, a full sister to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, worked four furlongs in company Thursday in 47.80 for Bob Baffert. Her stablemate, an unnamed daughter of the dam Fortune Queen, was clocked in 48 seconds flat . . . Humana Distaff winner Taris is progressing well from a foot issue that prevented her from running in the Triple Bend, and will go “straight to Saratoga” to prepare for the Grade I Ballerina Stakes on Aug. 27, trainer Simon Callaghan said, adding that he is looking forward to Firing Line’s return to the races in the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar July 23. The 2015 Kentucky Derby runner-up behind American Pharoah has not raced since the 2015 Preakness Stakes more than 13 months ago . . . Kevin Cox and Kevin Geraghty, both Santa Anita Gold Cup Tournament contestants, will be Tom Quigley’s guests, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, 12:20 p.m. in the East Paddock Gardens . . . CARMA CARES’ ninth annual charity fundraiser will be held 6:30 p.m., on Saturday, July 16, at the Del Mar Hilton Hotel. For further information, please visit carma4horses.org or call 626 574-6622.

Source: Santa Anita Park