SA Handicap – Grade I
1 1/4 Mile Dirt Graded Stake Purse $300.000 Four-Year-Olds And Upward. At SA

1st      Special Event      Nakamura Stables         3-1 (HRP) 9-5 (SRF)

Special Event dead heated with stable mate Classic Look in the Grade II San Pasqual Stakes last out. I noted in my preview that they would not do that again but predicted they would end up much closer to each other than they did, and I predicted that Classic Look would be the better. A bit off there. Special Event ran another of his patented stalk closes for a perfectly timed nose victory for his fourth straight stakes win.

2nd      Individuation                         Mb Stables            5-1 (HRP) 6-1 (SRF)

Really nice run for old timer Individuation which has started off his seven-year-old season impressively nearly hanging on for a wire-to-wire win in a 1 1/4 mile Grade I stakes race. I think it has something to do with all the artichokes they hand out to their racehorses at Mb Stables.

3rd      Star Vault                              Mb Stables              9-2 (HRP) 3-1 (SRF)

Interesting point here: both HRP and SRF had Star Vault as third choice in odds in this race, and that is exactly where he finished. He stalked the pace closely from the start and closed gradually to the wire to finish in the photo.

4th     Personal Ruler               Mo Mentum Farm           20-1 (HRP) 8-1 (SRF)

I was beginning to write off Personal Ruler on old age and by the look of his odds, HRP may have also, but fourth in a Grade I hardly sounds like a horse that needs to be sent to pasture. So, he may well have a future after all.

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES