Santa Anita Handicap (Grade 1)

THERE were two Grade 1s on the card at Santa Anita as well as a Kentucky Derby trial.

In the feature race, Stilleto Boy ran down the Bob Baffert favourite Defunded late in the straight and held off a late rally from Godolphin’s Proxy to win the $500,000 Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap under Kent Desormeaux.

Owner Steve Moger purchased Stilleto Boy for $420,000 and shares him with brother Ed Moger Jr..

The five-year-old son of Shackleford was scoring his first Grade 1 win for his owners, the Moger brothers.

Stilleto Boy broke cleanly from the gate and raced just off pace-setting rival Defunded through fastish opening fractions of 23.34secs, 46.16secs and 1.10.72secs.

Round the final turn, jockey Kent Desormeaux drove Stilleto Boy in between horses. The chesnut got the better of his rivals one by one to hit the wire in a final time of 2m 1.96secs over the mile and a quarter test.

The consistent Stilleto Boy has been placed in nine other graded events, including the Grade 1s Awesome Again, Malibu Stakes and the Pegasus World Cup Invitational and Santa Anita Handicap.

Frank E. Kilroe Mile

The Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile saw an Irish-bred winner in the Belardo five-year-old Gold Phoenix.

Another horse sourced by agent Niall Dalton through the BBA and trained by Phil D’Amato, the gelding races for a partnership of Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify and held of the Frankie Dettori-ridden Du Jour by a neck in a time of 1m 34.45secs over the turf mile.

Winner of last year’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, Gold Phoenix made one start in Ireland in 2021, winning a maiden at Dundalk for Kieran Cotter before being transferred to D’Amato in early 2022. The five-year-old has an overall career record of four wins in 11 starts and earnings of $675,257.

D’Amato’s had two better fancied runners in favourite Hong Kong Harry and Masteroffoxhounds and they spread across the track swinging into the stretch.

Frankie Dettori got Du Jour flying up on the outside but winning rider Kazushi Kimura, took the shorter route, splitting rivals to get home first by a neck. Du Jour was second, Cabo Spirit third and Hong Kong Harry fourth.

Practical shows some Derby moves

TIM Yakteen saddled four three-year-olds in the $402,000 Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, three of them were transfered from the Bob Baffert barn, but it was Practical Move, a horse Yakteen has trained for his entire career, who ran out an impressive winner.

The Practical Joke colt finished his two-year-old season last year by winning the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December from Baffert’s Carmel Road and Fort Bragg.

Mike Smith led early on Hejazi with Geaux Rocket Ride a length back in second. Practical Move raced in third inside, with jockey Ramon Vazquez biding his time.

As Hejazi drifted, Practical Move took over at the two marker and drew away for a comfortable success by two and a half lengths from Geaux Rocket Ride in a time of 1m 42.01secs and he now has 60 points on the Derby leaderboard.

“This horse keeps getting better and better every day,” said Vazquez. “He can go inside or outside. He is comfortable wherever. He lets me do my job, and he does the rest.”