I don't see how it's a good concept regardless of calendar placement.

The inflated purses and state-bred restrictions will always take away from tougher graded stakes races.

For what it's worth, the F/M Sprint race is interesting with It's Me Mom in it. She has won three in a row overall and her last two at Tampa were very impressive. On paper, she will be a tough match for Pomeroys Pistol and Musical Romance. Beat the Blues is no slouch either.

The Classic seems interesting as well.

Absolutely. You have the suddenly surprising Ron the Greek, the Pletcher super-charged Turbo Compressor, Mucho Macho Man, and Adios Charlie, both of whom had solid comeback races.

There are too many graded stakes as is that top horses can bypass each other. At least these can bring the better horses from the state together for good racing. These FLA races are interesting from a betting point and due to the over abundance of graded stakes, most probably bypass the Donn and others looking for easier spots.

There certainly are a lot of reasons why top class racing has declined.

I'd rather see racing administrators make moves to improve the quality on a national scale, not embrace gimmicky one-offs.

SANTA ANITA 4th - THE SENSATIONAL STAR STAKES (4:35 p.m.)

(1) Luckarack Hector Berrios 15
(2) Ain’t No Other Martin Garcia 6
(3) Tamarack Smarty David Flores 20
(4) Compari Mike Smith 5/2
(5) Caracortado Rafael Bejarano 4/5
(6) My Summer Slew Alonso Quinonez 20
(7) Mega Heat Joe Talamo 12
(8) Red Defense Joel Rosario 8



SANTA ANITA 5th - THE CRYSTAL WATER STAKES (5:05 p.m.)

(1) Legal Separation Victor Espinoza 6
(2) Bluegrass Reward Joe Talamo 9/2
(3) Spud Spivens Mike Smith 9/2
(4) Thirtyfirststreet Joel Rosario 2
(5) Holladay Road Rafael Bejarano 5/2
(6) Macho Dorado Corey Nakatani 9/2



SANTA ANITA 6th - THE VALENTINE DANCER STAKES (5:37 p.m.)

(1) Secret Cove Joel Rosario 15
(2) Warren’s Got Game Santiago Reyes 20
(3) Antares World Martin Garcia 9/2
(4) La Sombre Alonso Quinonez 4
(5) Chokecherymary Corey Nakatani 10
(6) Cayanna Victor Espinoza 15
(7) Unzip Me Rafael Bejarano 5/2
(8) California Nectar Hector Berrios 10
(9) Halo Dolly Joe Talamo 3
(10) Bench Glory Brice Blanc 20

Good Riddance
 

The original Sunshine Millions is now dead? The series was an annual rout for the Sunshine State as the Golden State usually came away very tarnished. I guess the powers that be decided:
What the hell? Let's just scrap the original premise and let the Florida breds have a day just for themselves!

I say good riddance; this series of races besides making Cal breds look bad also diminished the Strub Series. Any 4YO that was a Florida bred or Cal bred found it more profitable to run in the Sunshine Millions instead of the Strub Stakes.

This weekend both tracks have nice cards and maybe some regulars don't like the food trucks but big deal. The food trucks will not inconvenience regulars in any way since they are in the infield. This promotion is a good idea to get a few novices and foodies out to the track because Santa Anita is so striking a few will want to venture back to the Great Race Place.

I think a big contributing factor to the series lopsidedness was that almost no calbreds would ship to Fla, while there were already tons of Fla breds in California.

The races at GP had, at most, 2-3 calbreds on the entire card.

Those are a couple of good points.

As much as I hate to admit it though Cal breds just don't seem to measure up. In the last five years a half dozen Eclipse awards have gone to Florida breeders while only a pair have gone out west.

This is only an issue because Top Florida Breds can also complete in top caliber races. It would be more of an equal playing field with Cal Breds and NY Breds going at it. EAST/WEST

I enjoy State breds days in Illinios, Maryland, Louisiana, New York, and California. There's a reason Kentucky (Turfway doesn't count) does it have them and the same came be said for Florida on a smaller scale.

The concept is fine, but it would probably fit better latter in the meet.

Zoe Cadman tweets: Caracortado an official scratch out of tomorrows sensational star due to minor foot problem.

I think Unzip Me is a program scratch as well.

EARLY SCRATCHES FOR 1/28 SA:

Race 4: Scratch #1 Luckarack, #5 Caracortado, #7 Mega Heat
Race 5: No Changes
Race 6: Scratch #6 Cayanna, #7 Unzip Me; #2 Rafael Bejarano

Is La Sombre going to stay around 4/1?

I'll take it.

True, Fla breds are typically better than Cal breds, but it also seems like every good CB mare ends up being bred in KY.

Also, two of the better stallions of recent times standing in KY, were Calbreds.

Impressive race from Awesome Feather

Yeah it was.

Obviously she was pretty good, but I never thought she was that good. Great step forward for her.