Santa Anita Park Racing Picks: San Felipe Stakes Day, 3/1/2025

Santa Anita hosts one of its most important cards of the meet on Saturday, March 1. It includes the San Felipe Stakes (G2), a major Kentucky Derby prep and the final local tune-up for the Santa Anita Derby on April 5. The San Felipe offers its winner 50 points, which, in many years, is enough to earn a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

The San Felipe is just one of four graded-stakes races on the Saturday card at Santa Anita, however. There are two Grade 1 races for older horses: the Santa Anita Handicap at 1 ¼ miles on the dirt, as well as the Frank E. Kilroe Mile at a mile on the lawn. Rounding out the graded offerings is the Buena Vista (G2), a one-mile grass race for older fillies and mares. The 11-race card gets underway at noon Pacific Standard Time, and you can watch and wager all day long with FanDuel and FanDuel TV.

Remember to check the scratches and the weather before placing your Saturday bets. Clear skies and fast track conditions are likely, but it’s always good to make sure, and horses can scratch for reasons other than weather.

Santa Anita Park Picks

Race 5 - Maiden special weight, six furlongs on turf - Arrogarsi, Quick Brown Fox

FanDuel odds: 8-1 and 5-2

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Trainer Tim Yakteen can make an impact at a price with a first-time starter, and there are reasons Arrogarsi (8-1) can add to that pattern. Her dam won at second asking, and is a stakes winner on the grass. Out of her five foals to start, one of them won first-out (in a turf sprint, no less!), and three others hit the board at first asking. Though she is a bit old for a first-time starter—she is four, after all—there’s a good chance they see some reason to keep this member of Arrogate’s final crop in training, and the five- and six-furlong workouts into a six-furlong debut should have her fit.

Quick Brown Fox (5-2) makes her second start for trainer Richard Mandella. She has been laid off since a solid second in her debut on dirt last April, a race in which she battled on the pace and kept going well late, just missing. She tries the lawn for the first time: sire Justify has produced good runners on both dirt and turf, and there is some interesting turf form in her female family. Mandella does well with horses coming off of long layoffs like this, and it is a good sign that high-percentage rider Flavien Prat sees fit to take the mount.

Race 8 - San Felipe Stakes (G2), 1 1/16 miles on the dirt - Journalism, Barnes

FanDuel odds: 7-2 and 9-5

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Journalism (7-2) makes his three-year-old debut. He won’t be favored with Barnes in the field, and perhaps even Rodriguez will go off a shorter price than he will. Yet, Journalism is the only horse in the field who is a graded-stakes winner at two turns. The Michael McCarthy trainee woke up when stretched out to two turns in maiden company, and then carried that sharp form right into the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), where he beat some solid Bafferts like Getaway Car and Gaming. He still has to prove he can win at Santa Anita, but with tactical speed, class, and stamina, he will be the value in the field.

As has happened repeatedly in these west-coast Kentucky Derby preps this season, Bob Baffert has three of the six entrants. Barnes is the buzz horse, and has been since selling for $3.2 million as a yearling, though on this stretch out to a route, there are questions. Damsire American Pharoah is a positive, and sire Into Mischief can throw any kind, but the female family is sufficiently sprint-oriented that taking a “hey, prove it!” attitude on this stretch to two turns is more prudent. Stablemate Rodriguez (9-5), at least, broke his maiden at a two-turn mile and then chased home a clear second last out behind his champion stablemate Citizen Bull in the one-mile Robert B. Lewis (G3). Though jockey Juan Hernandez decamps to ride Barnes, Flavien Prat is a worthy replacement, and no one is riding big races better than Prat nowadays.

Race 9 - Frank E. Kilroe Mile, one mile on the turf - El Potente, Formidable Man

FanDuel odds: 2-1 and 6-1

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El Potente (2-1) had his breakout race in the Thunder Road (G3) last out, where he stalked the pace and opened up to win by three lengths. Despite the Grade 1 designation, this race is hardly more difficult, and pace-wise, he appears likely to get the best of it. He shapes as the speed of the speed if jockey Hector Berrios decides to send him, though as he showed in the Thunder Road, he can also win in stalk-and-pounce fashion. Over his favorite course and distance, this is the place for him to break through at the top level. And, the connections appeal as well. Trainer Dan Blacker hardly misses at this meet: with nine starters headed into the current race week, he has six wins and a second. And, in five mounts he’s given to jockey Hector Berrios in the last two months? They have five win pictures.

Among the horses who will be a bit of a price, Formidable Man (6-1) has upside for Michael McCarthy. Though he came up flat in the Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) last out, this is not as difficult a Grade 1. Furthermore, some horses just don’t handle the Gulfstream Park turf all that well, whereas he has piled up some good efforts at Santa Anita. He has won twice and run second once in four starts at the mile, he is tactically versatile enough to carve a trip, and blinkers-off is an excellent move for McCarthy.

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