San Vicente Stakes – GII

$200.000 For Three Year Olds
7 Furlongs – Dirt
Santa Anita Park – January 10, 2026

There are no Kentucky Derby points on offer this Saturday at Santa Anita Park but make no mistake, the three-year-old CA trail to the Derby looms over this field of eight as they head to the gate. It is seven furlongs in early January, but this begins the process of stables testing the merits of their sophomores to see if they have what it takes to keep their Derby dreams alive and move forward with their charges later in more lucrative prestigious races where there will be all important qualifying points to get them into the big race. Let’s see who’s dreaming the dream.

1. El Jefe (Night Rider Stables/M.E. Smith) Triple Crown nominated gelding who has won three of his six races hopes to emerge as the boss when the dust settles. Plucked out of his maiden win by Night Rider for $16.000 he has won two of four since including a NM State Bred stakes win in his last start. His rallying style and previous efforts indicate the 7 furlongs will only help him and his works are sharp. The $16.000 price tag already seems like a bargain. The question now is just how big of a bargain was it? 

2. Racing At Gulfsteam (Maxmillion Farm/K. Frey) KY bred who has never raced at Gulfstream ends up on the opposite coast for his three-year-old debut. Made his stakes debut in mid-December down the road at Los Alamitos and finished last of eleven. He was taken back in that one after going wire to wire in the race prior to that when he broke his maiden. His trainer gives him another shot. He cuts back to a distance that might favor him more, but rivals have to wonder if he is here strategically to help out his more accomplished late running stablemate drawn further out. 

3. Perfect Heist (Big Guns Stables/F. Prat) Was second on debut and then took down a MSW at Woodbine in June. Since that race he has failed to hit the board in four subsequent races. It seems that there is little to recommend him but throw out his sprint effort on a muddy track and his shorter races are consistently good. He cuts back to a sprint, and his works are good so it may have been the longer distances and not the tougher competition that set him back. This will test him and show if he might just want less ground.

4. Southwind (Acber Farms/A. Fresu) Acber homebred colt has been on the board in four out of five races and has finished second in three straight stakes races. The only time he has missed grabbing a check was a seventh finish in the G2 Saratoga Special in which he was making up a lot of ground and did not disgrace himself. Hot jockey on board. Would consider him a strong contender. 

5. Control The Center (Mb Stables/L. Dettori) The first of Mb Stables two entries both of which are TC nominated. Has already earned over $300.000 in his young career. He is a G1 winner having taken the Pharoah on this track last October. That win bought him into the BC Juvenile as one of the contenders. He drew the rail there and failed to fire. He disappointed his backers again a month later, so the question is what will we see here: the horse that showed so much early promise or someone whose peers have caught up to him? Judging by the connections and some very sharp works since those last two my guess a return to form is on offer. 

6. Magic Fighter (Maxmillion Farm/E. Maldonado) Second entry from this barn. He won his first two races, the second of which was the G3 Sanford at Saratoga. The next three starts in graded company did not yield good results but his last race was the crowded BC Juvenile where drew post thirteen and made a strong late run to finish sixth of the fourteen losing by two. Not as bad as it looks purely on the page. Maximilian Farm obviously agreed because he was purchased for $400.000 and gelded in preparation for his debut for the new connections. He likes to drop way back and fast pace up front will help his efforts immensely. His stablemate will likely ensure that no one gets to lollygag.

7. Lucky Tactics (Mb Stables/H. Berrios) No lucky tactics needed for these connections as evidenced by years of dominance. The second of two entries he is a homebred who the trainer has chosen not to geld which indicates to this writer there is possibly potential we have not yet seen fully shown yet on track. But that is speculation. Based on form we have a very nicely conformed well bred colt who has won two of six starts and is a CA bred stakes winner two races back. He sat midpack in his last and rallied a bit for a minor check, but more will be expected today. Working well but most recent work was a couple of ticks slower than his stablemate.

8. Unique Journey (Waldo/V. Espinoza) Waldo homebred was a nose and a neck away from four straight wins after being gelded. That streak saw him winning the Display at Woodbine right after a nose defeat in Monmouth’s Sapling. After making the early lead and fading to seventh in The Brown six weeks ago he resurfaces here for his three-year-old debut. He draws the outside and seems like he wants to be forwardly placed. I think that is going to be a tough tactic to employ in this field, but he has carried his speed as long as a mile in his stakes win so don’t count him out. 

It is early in the season, but all signals point to Maxmillion Farms being determined to get his $400.000 purchase onto the Derby field right away in his carefully spotted first start for the barn. I’m going to go with that Spidey feeling to place Magic Fighter on top with the Mb Stables colt Lucky Tactics close behind and Unique Journey on the outside returning to his speedy hard knocking good form and El Jefe in the mix as well. 

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES