Race of the Week: San Gorgonio Handicap
by Patricia Woo | Dec 28 2009
Santa Anita Park knows how to kick off the new year in style - with the $150,000 Gr. 2
San Gorgonio Handicap on Saturday, Jan. 2. This 1 1/8-mile turf test is for fillies and mares 4 years old and up and will feature the 2010 debut of 2009
Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic champion Life is Sweet.
Trainer John Shirreffs had a banner year in 2009 with Horse of the Year candidate Zenyatta. And his other top horse, Life is Sweet, came into her own with her Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic win at Santa Anita Park in November. She started off 2009 with three consecutive wins, one of which marked her first grade 1 score, the $300,000 San Margarita Handicap on March 14. Then she started racing against her stablemate, Zenyatta, and she didn't win another race until her Breeders' Cup score. With the retirement of her much-lauded stablemate, this 4-year-old daughter of Storm Cat now has the opportunity to shine and add to her lifetime win record of 15-6-3-1 and $1,770,810 in earnings. And despite bearing the co-highweight of 112 lbs, Life is Sweet should be the favorite to win her 2010 debut.
Diamondrella is a 5-year-old Gary Stevens trainee who also started 2009 with a win streak. She took the $100,000 Giant's Causeway Stakes in April at Keeneland and then her first grade 1 win of her career, the $400,000 Just a Game Stakes in June at Belmont Park. But in the $1M
Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, this British-bred Rock of Gibraltar finished a disappointing 11th, and she closed out her year with a third-place score in the $300,000 Gr. 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park behind Ventura. She has a lifetime race record of 19-8-2-2 and $820,576 in earnings. Diamondrella shares the high weight with Life is Sweet and will be a fierce competitor in Saturday's race.
Also nominated for the San Gorgonio Handicap is Zardana, another of John Shirreffs' up-and-coming racehorses. This Brazil-bred daughter of Crimson Tide won the $150,000 Gr. 2 Bayakoa Handicap on the synthetic track at Hollywood Park on Dec. 8, making her lifetime record 17-7-0-1 and earnings $293,421. Otherwise, this 5-year-old has raced exclusively on turf and will be looking at add to her grass-run win in the $60,000 Swingtime Stakes in October.
Others nominated for the San Gorgonio Handicap include Neil Drysdale's Cat by the Tale, Mark Glatt's Czechers and Jerry Hollendorfer's You Life Me Up.
In 2008, Garrett Gomez rode Wait a While to victory, and in 2009, Tizfiz and Agapito Delgadillo were the winning duo. Who will win the 2010 edition of the San Gorgonio Handicap?
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