Loading ...Dec 28 2019
Santa Anita Sat.Dec.28: Malibu G1, LaBrea G1, American Oaks G1, other graded stakes. Grid PP included.
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Saturday, December 28, 2019. Santa Anita comes up with a big card the last weekend of the year, hosting 6 graded stakes races, including the Malibu G1, La Brea G1, American Oaks G1, San Antonio G2, Bobby Frankel G3, and Mathis Brothers G2. There is also 1 more listed stakes race on the card and a couple of key 2yo races.
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Santa Anita graded stakes races highlight the late December schedule.
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The Malibu G1 is normally the featured race, but only holds a short but talented 5 horse field this year. 3 of them are Bob Baffert trainees, led by this year’s Santa Anita Derby G1 champion Roadster. Stablemate Manny Wah had a strong effort in a stakes race at Mahoning last out, and Much Better has to be much better to win this race.
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The favorite, Omaha Beach, would have been the Kentucky Derby favorite this year after winning the Arkansas Derby. His comeback has been solid, winning the Santa Anita Sprint Champ G1 and 2nd in the BC Dirt Mile G1, also at SA.
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Chad Brown throws some Complexity into the mix, a horse that appears in top form again after a couple dubious races. He was last year’s Champagne G1 winner.
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The other stakes races boast much larger fields that are just as competitive. However, the chalk is very solid in most of those and it’s hard to see anyone over 5-1 winning, except in one.
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The Mathis Brothers G2 is the last race on the card and boasts a wide open field of 11 3yo’s at 8f on turf. The favorites are solid, but Mark Glatt has a pair of talented foreign transfers both at 12-1 ML. The longest shot is 50-1 Loafer’s Boy, who has shown good dirt speed in his only 2 races and is an automatic bet at that price.
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Check out the Santa Anita Saturday Grid here free.
