SANTA ANITA
RACE 1
NO. 3 ATYPIQUE: First time starter for papa Mandella who usually doesn’t have them cranked first out of the box. Had this one ready to run, storming home and was closing in on the winner before running out of ground. He was more than five lengths clear of the rest in this 11 horse field and will be ready for the winner’s circle next time out. $$$
RACE 6
NO. 4 SURFING THE MENU: This mare had been off since Nov. 2014 and trainer Karen Headley brought her back in this $20k maiden claimer. She was made the 2/1 favorite and went wire-to-wire, winning by almost nine lengths. This is more about the trainer than the runner. There are times when we need to put trainers on our watch list as Karen has now won with 3 of her 5 runners coming off a layoff of 180 days or longer with an ROI of over $5 on a $2 bet. Karen will be on our watch list with layoff horses.
Richard Saber, a former director of race and sports at the famed Stardust book, is GT’s horse racing and sports handicapper. Twitter: @SabesBet. Email: [email protected].