SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 8

Antonio Fresu / 8

Umberto Rispoli / 5

Tyler Baze / 4

Hector Berrios / 4

Trainers / Wins

Phil D’Amato / 7

George Papaprodromou / 6

Bob Baffert / 6

Doug O’Neill / 5

Mark Glatt / 4

WEEKEND STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $100,000 California Distaff Handicap, California-bred fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, about 6½ furlongs on turf

Sunday

• $100,000 California Flag Handicap, Cal-bred 3-year-olds and up, about 6½ furlongs on turf

Monday

• $80,000 Swingtime Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile on turf

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

• $100,000, Grade I Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship, quarter horses, 3 and up, 440 yards

• $35,000 Sound Dash Handicap, quarter-horse fillies and mares, 3 and up, 350 yards

DOWN THE STRETCH

• The four-day racing week at Santa Anita sees two stars of downhill turf sprints during the winter-spring season return to the unique course. Johnny Podres (with Umberto Rispoli riding), one of nine California-breds entered in Sunday’s California Flag Handicap, seeks his first victory since a pair of $100,000 stakes wins on this layout in March and April. Stay and Scam (also with Rispoli), one of 12 fillies and mares in Saturday’s California Distaff Handicap, won the Irish O’Brien Stakes at this trip in March. The holiday Monday card features the Swingtime Stakes for fillies and mares.

• The strongest performances in the Breeders’ Cup prep races at Santa Anita the past two weekends were by 2-year-olds, judging by rankings of Equibase speed figures for North American stakes in 2024. The victory by Thought Process in the Surfer Girl on turf rated best by a North American 2-year-old filly on either surface in 2024. Non Compliant’s win in the Oak Leaf was second best by a 2-year-old filly on a main track. Citizen Bull’s victory in the American Pharoah was second best by a 2-year-old male on a main track (below Gaming’s Del Mar Futurity). Iron Man Cal’s win by disqualification in the Zuma Beach was seventh best in the age group on turf. Other recent Santa Anita stakes winners ranking top-10 in their groups are older male Subsanador in the California Crown, sprinter Straight No Chaser in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, and the 3-year-old filly Sugar Fish in the Zenyatta.

• Subsanador and Newgate are the leading California-based horses in the latest Breeders’ Cup Classic contender rankings voted by racing media, handicappers and officials. The top 10: Fierceness, City of Troy, Forever Young, Sierra Leone, Highland Falls, Subsanador, Ushba Tesoro, Arthur’s Ride, Tapit Trice and Newgate. The rankings are useful but have no bearing on who runs in the $7 million Classic, the main event of the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Nov. 1-2.

• Bluestocking’s victory with jockey Rossa Ryan in the $5.5 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday in Paris earned the 4-year-old filly from Britain a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Bluestocking’s best results have come on soft footing, and it’s unclear if trainer Ralph Beckett will bring her to Del Mar to run in either the Turf or the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf on what is likely to be firm turf.

• Empressum (Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo) chases a repeat win in the Robert Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship for quarter horses Saturday night, which would be the 11th Grade I stakes win for the 2022 AQHA World Champion. Empressum’s opponents include Jeriko (Jose Nicasio), whose DQ made Empressum the winner of the Go Man Go Handicap in August.