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The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:51 pm
by TJ
Baffert pits the current good form of hard knocking Hoppertunity, against the returning California Chrome who's been away from the races for over 10 months. Should be a great race...will CC be vulnerable off the layoff as he's shown previously, or will he stake his claim out of the box as 2016's top handicap horse? Below are the entries and past performances. TJ

8th Race. (C8) The 80th Running of
San Pasqual Stakes (Grade II)
Purse $200,000 Guaranteed One Mile And One Sixteenth
FOR FOUR-YEAR-OLDS AND UPWARD.

1 ALFA BIRD (L) '11 H 119 Baze, T Lucky Charm Stable Victor Garcia
2 BLINGO (L) '09 G 119 Solis, A Mr. & Mrs. J. S. Moss John Shirreffs
3 POINT PIPER (L) '10 H 119 Bejarano, R Gatto Racing, LLC, Russo or Schlaich, Et Al Jerry Hollendorfer
4 CALIFORNIA CHROME (L) '11 H 119 Espinoza, V California Chrome, LLC Art Sherman
5 HOPPERTUNITY (L) '11 H 121 Garcia, M Pegram, Watson or Weitman Bob Baffert
6 HARD ACES (L) '10 H 121 Talamo, J Hronis Racing, LLC John Sadler
7 MYSTERY TRAIN (ARG) (L) '10 R 119 Smith, M Red Baron's Barn, LLC or Rancho Temescal Darrell Vienna
8 IMPERATIVE (L) '10 G 119 Gutierrez, M KM Racing Enterprise, Inc. Richard Baltas

Scroll down to Hoppertunity: http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/briswatc ... ummary.htm

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 6:10 am
by ct2346
Hoppertunity seems to be dancing every dance and has for a long time. Would love to have him in my barn. Gotta root for a horse like that.

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 3:25 pm
by TJ
California Chrome
Hoppertunity
Blingo
Hard Aces

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 8:25 am
by Cree
Not much to argue here, the 2 best horses in this field are Chrome and Hoppertunity.

California Chrome
Hoppertunity
Hard Aces
Alfa Bird

This is exciting to see Chrome coming back at 5 after a strange 2015 for him. :-)

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 5:20 pm
by TJ
California Chrome...despite breaking out badly in the paddock, overcame his first race back jitters and won with speed to spare.
Imperative ran a very good race to get 2nd dogging CC throughout the lane.
Hoppertunity made his usual run but could only get 3rd.
Hard Aces finished well for the 4th spot.

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:16 am
by Cree
I thought that was a powerful race for Chrome, but he looked a little tired in those last strides, unsurprisingly. Nice to see him come back a winner.
I was impressed by Imperative's run as well. Horse doesn't win much, but he seems to try hard and has picked up a cheque in the top 5 for his last 5 races.

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:33 am
by TJ
Cree wrote:I thought that was a powerful race for Chrome, but he looked a little tired in those last strides, unsurprisingly. Nice to see him come back a winner.
I was impressed by Imperative's run as well. Horse doesn't win much, but he seems to try hard and has picked up a cheque in the top 5 for his last 5 races.

Hi Cree,
I agree Imperative ran a good race, he's a much improved horse since Richard Balthas took him over 3 races back finishing 2nd to Dortmund and CC in his last two starts. CC looked stronger now then he's ever been. It does make a difference when the trainer knows what the objectives are and can point for a particular day to have his horse ready without interfering owners telling Sherman we have to run in PA so we get the million dollar appearance bonus, when the trainer knows his horse isn't ready:>) That was why CC was never able to win off a layoff prior to this.
Espinoza didn't seem to ask him for too much, but as you said he was starting to feel it at the wire....He received a 103 beyer for his effort.
CC will ship to Dubai Jan. 21st. They will find a prep for him prior to their main objective, The Dubai World Cup on March 26th. TJ
http://www1.drf.com/displayVideo.do?tra ... ountry=USA

Re: The GRII San Pasqual Stakes

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:02 pm
by jellac
YAY!!! What great fun to see Chrome back in good strong free running form!!

Agreed that Imperative ran a very good race.