It may be Super Bowl Sunday but the eyes of the racing world will be on Texas Red as the overwhelming Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner returns to Santa Anita Park in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes Feb. 1.
The seven-furlong San Vicente, scheduled to go off about two hours before kickoff, will be the first start for Texas Red since he rallied from last to demolish the Juvenile field at Santa Anita by 6-1/2 lengths at odds of nearly 14-1. Texas Red drew post 4 in a field of eight sophomores and will carry 123 pounds, five more than each of his opponents
Trainer and part owner Keith Desormeaux has methodically prepared the son of Afleet Alex to begin his Triple Crown assault at Santa Anita, where the bay colt has been working since before Christmas. In his most recent drill Jan. 24, Texas Red covered five furlongs in 1:01 2/5 handily.
Hall of Fame rider Kent Desormeaux, Keith's younger brother, has the mount for an ownership group that includes Erich Brehm, Wayne Detmar, and Lee Michaels.
SAN VICENTE STAKES DRAW
Texas Red made an eye-catching run from 11 lengths off the pace in the Juvenile Nov. 1 to win in a solid time of 1:41.91, one of the biggest highlights of the 2014 Breeders' Cup. He was winless in two prior sprint tries last season, both over Polytrack, while rallying late in both. It was not until he was stretched out to mile at Del Mar for his third start that Texas Red broke his maiden, however.
He went on to finish third in the FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita before his star turn in the Juvenile. A $17,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Desormeaux, he has now banked $1,192,300 while posting a 2-1-1 mark in five starts.
Texas Red finished second in the voting for an Eclipse Award as top male juvenile, narrowly outpointed by the Bob Baffert-trained American Pharoah. Baffert has a pair of entrants in the San Vicente, Peachtree Stable's Lord Nelson and Arnold Zetcher's Punctuate.
Lord Nelson, a 6-3/4-length winner of Santa Anita's Speakeasy Stakes going six furlongs Oct. 13, is the only other stakes winner in the San Vicente field. In his next start, the Pulpit colt disappointed as the 7-5 favorite in the 1-1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) at Churchill Downs Nov. 29, finishing fifth. This will also be the 2015 debut for the $340,000 Keeneland yearling. Rafael Bejarano has the mount on Lord Nelson, breaking from the rail.
Punctuate, in post 5, has not raced since Sept. 27 when he rallied smartly from far off the pace for a first-out maiden win going 6-1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita. Martin Garcia takes the call on the son of Distorted Humor out of New Mexico's multiple stakes-winning Peppers Pride, winner of all 19 of her career starts.
Trainer Peter Miller's dangerously speedy Serbian Syclone has won his past two races in nearly gate-to-wire fashion by a combined 8-1/2 lengths and seeks his third consecutive win with regular pilot Elvis Trujillo. Based at San Luis Rey Downs, the Kentucky-bred colt by Wildcat Heir tries stakes company for the first time in his fourth career start for owners Rockingham Ranch.
Bench Warrant, fourth of five in the Los Alamitos Futurity Dec. 20, comes off a nose allowance score at 6-1/2 furlongs down Santa Anita's hillside turf course. He seeks his third win in five starts for trainer John Sadler.
Jazzy Josh, on the outside of Serbian Syclone, also has some speed. He was second to Bench Warrant last time and was supplemented to the San Vicente. Sir Samson draws the outside after breaking his maiden going six furlongs at Los Alamitos Dec. 12. Maiden Magic Taste completes the field.
Santa Anita will have a special first post time of 11 a.m. PST, with the San Vicente to go as race 6 at 1:30 p.m.