Stay updated with breaking news from Kyle Frey. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
“I like the competition. I like to ride with those guys because you can learn a lot from them and it’s a good experience to ride with them
Back to defend her title in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes and stamp her ticket to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the Phil D’Amato-trained Going to Vegas was flawless on the front end today at Santa Anita as she waltzed gate to wire under Umberto Rispoli, getting a mile and one quarter on turf in 1:59.41 while never being seriously challenged.
Last year’s Rodeo Drive winner Going to Vegas, was a troubled third in the G2 John C. Mabee Stakes Sept. 10 at Del Mar, has five wins and six seconds from 14 starts over the Santa Anita turf and she has two wins and as many seconds from four tries at the Rodeo Drive distance.
Proven at the distance, John Sadler’s long-fused Heywoods Beach, a 5-year-old horse by Eclipse Champion Sprinter Speightstown, looms the horse to beat among a field of eight three-year-olds and up in Sunday’s marathon mile and one half, Grade 3, $100,000 Tokyo City Cup at Santa Anita.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will send out the duo of Ganadora and Velvet Slippers in the $75,000-guaranteed Dark Mirage Stakes.