The Grade 2 $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes is the featured eighth race January 10 at Santa Anita as a field of eleven older horses is set to contest the mile and one sixteenth event on the main track.
Hoppertunity, the 9/5 favorite for trainer Bob Baffert, has generated a considerable amount of buzz since returning from nearly a six month layoff. The four year-old son of Any Given Saturday scratched from the 2014 Kentucky Derby, and did not start again until a second place finish October 29 at Santa Anita against allowance foes. Hoppertunity followed that effort with a Grade 1 victory in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs November 28. Breaking from post two, jockey Martin Garcia should have Hoppertunity forwardly-placed.
Majestic Harbor (9/2) has had major success on the Santa Anita dirt winning the Grade 1 Gold Cup in June. Since that effort, however, the Sean McCarthy trainee is winless in three starts including a thirteenth place drubbing in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. The mile and one sixteenth distance of the San Pasqual may be a bit shorter than Majestic Harbor’s ideal trip, but the seven year-old has proven capable on his best day.
Quadrivium (6/1) came on strong to close out his three year-old campaign, tallying sharp allowance scores at Keeneland and Laurel Park for trainer Graham Motion. The rapidly improving son of Henrythenavigator has three wins in eight starts and will be trying stakes competition for the first time. Mike Smith gets the call breaking from the rail post.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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