3 minute read

At Santa Anita reputations are gained and lost in the swish of a tail.

One horse whose reputation was further enhanced is Life Is Good when Mike Smith took the Baffert pupil to an 8 lengths win in the San Felipe.  It was stablemate Medina Spirit who was behind him and Dream Shake followed him but it was the winner who maintained his unbeaten record in impressive style.

And one whose reputation was dented was Maxfield in the Big 'Cap when he seemed to lack his usual acceleration and could only finish third.  It was Idol who gave jockey Joel Rosario his third consecutive win in the race and Express Train who finished second.

The San Carlos saw Brickyard Ride storm ahead on the turn and put the race to bed with Tigre Di Slugo second and Exaulted third.

The Frank E Kilroe Mile went to Hit The Road who outgunned Smooth Like Strait and Count Again.

Over in Florida the Tampa Bay Derby saw Helium give his sire Ironicus his first graded stakes winner.  Hidden Stash was second and Moonlite Strike third.  Helium's jockey was 56 year old Jose Ferrer who had his family cheering him on.  The owners have to pay a triple crown supplement but trainer Mark Casse feels certain that they will want to do so.  Favourite Candy Man Rocket was a disappointment finishing at the wrong end of the field.

The Florida Oaks went to the top three in the market but not in that order – Domain Expertise was the winner with Jouster second and Oyster Box third.

The Hillsborough was won by Micheline 5/1 from Morning Molly on 11/1 and New York Girl third.