A look at the stars of the Arcadia track’s winter-spring season finds many going out of state for stakes with higher purses and prestige.
player ready... When the then-4-year-old horse Nysos scored a thrilling victory in a big race on opening day at Santa Anita last December, optimists in the crowd of more than 41,000 hoped it was the first of several chances to watch one of California’s top talents compete at the state’s biggest track this season.
But Nysos didn’t stick around for stakes like the Santa Anita Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup, as such horses might have done in the past. Nysos was sent to the Middle East, where he ran second to world beater Forever Young in the Saudi Cup, and then to the East Coast, where he won impressively in the Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga last Saturday to earn the No. 1 spot in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s latest rankings.
Travelogues like Nysos’ dot this column’s 2026 list of the outstanding horses of Santa Anita’s winter-spring season, which ends Sunday. Trainer Bob Baffert’s decision to move many of his best horses to Kentucky in April with an eye toward more lucrative races only accelerated a trend.
More and more, the best California horses are scoring their defining victories in other states as trainers and owners look east for the bigger money and prestige of stakes offered by tracks that are allowed to supplement purses with on-site casino revenue. , he had to go to Saratoga Springs and win the Met Mile by four lengths in near-track-record time, over a field that included Journalism, with a brilliant ride by Flavien Prat, to secure his stature.
Fans can hope Baffert brings him home for the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22.did the most at Santa Anita and was the best story of the local season with trainer Mark Glatt. The 3-year-old sprinted to a win in the San Vicente Stakes and then answered doubts about his stamina towith jockey Mike Smith.
Briefly the Kentucky Derby favorite on race day, he was one of the early speedsters who faded late; his ninth-place effort was respectable. No horse from Santa Anita hit the board in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness or Belmont Stakes, but it’s too soon to say California 3-year-olds won’t make an impact somewhere this year.won a fast optional-claiming-level sprint at Santa Anita in April, then went to Churchill Downs to romp in the Pat Day Mile with rider Florent Geroux.
It took a track record-caliber run by Englishman in the Woody Stephens Stakes at Saratoga to deal Crude Velocity his first defeat. Although 3-year-olds on main tracks get the most attention in the spring, the best Santa Anita colt in the group the season might be trainer Michael McCarthy’s turf runner.
Second to Gstaad in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last year at Del Mar, Stark Contrast started this year by winning the ungraded Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita and went on to a convincing victory with Prat in the Grade I American Turf Stakes at Churchill. In the NTRA 3-year-old rankings, Stark Contrast and Crude Velocity are the top Californians.raced for the first time since his second to Notable Speech in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and was sharp, winning the Grade I Shoemaker Mile with Prat at Santa Anita in March.
He won twice at Del Mar last summer and McCarthy is expected to follow the same schedule this year.broke through with his first stakes-level success in the low-level Clocker’s Corner at Santa Anita in February. Two starts later he and Prat were prevailing in a blanket finish in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill.
The Baffert-trained 5-year-old mare, the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint champion, returned to win the D. Wayne Lukas Stakes and the Grade I B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile at Santa Anita. Then she went east and, after one poor performance in Kentucky, won the 1-1/16-mile Shawnee Stakes at Churchill with that man Prat.
She’s the NTRA’s top-ranked West Coast female at No. 15 among all horses.was a swift winner for Baffert with Juan Hernandez riding on opening day, pulling away by five lengths in the Grade I La Brea Stakes. She and Geroux won a close one in the Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill.
She’s a contender for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Oct. 31 at Keeneland.won the meet’s top two stakes for turf females with rider Hector Berrios, including the Grade I Gamely. Next will be a race at the Del Mar meet that opens July 17, and D’Amato told the Daily Racing Form he might try her on dirt or stick to grass.led her division at Santa Anita, taking the Santa Anita Oaks under Hernandez.
Her Kentucky Oaks at Churchill and Acorn at Saratoga showed she’s a cut below the nation’s best so far. , the Florida-based 4-year-old who was sent to the Hollywood Gold Cup by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. last month and turned a little-anticipated edition of the race into a show by winning by 9½ lengths with Prat over a field that included Santa Anita Handicap winner British Isles.
Joseph told the Racing Form that Forged Steel could go to the Pacific Classic.earned the highest Beyer speed figure of the Santa Anita season in winning the Grade I Malibu Stakes with Joel Rosario on opening day. He was retired shortly thereafter.had been favored to win the Malibu but had to be scratched after pulling away from a handler and hitting the dirt in the saddling paddock.
Cornucopian dusted himself , won the San Carlos Stakes and then went to Churchill and won the Aristides Stakes with Prat. , looked like a potential star in his maiden victory. He reverted to his slow-starting ways in the Santa Anita Derby but continues to intrigue. , the 5-year-old mare trained by Sean McCarthy, was a three-time stakes winner at Santa Anita this season, dominating California-bred turf races with jockey William Antongeorgi.
Grand Slam Smile has been first, second or third in all 21 starts. , Jeff Mullins’ 5-year-old mare, won two hillside turf sprints with Hernandez and could have joined Grand Slam Smile as a three-time stakes winner. Her one defeat at Santa Anita came with an excuse. The Santa Anita season ends with racing Thursday through Sunday, featuring six stakes over the four days.
It’s frustrating that so many of the state’s best horses are going to other states to win big races and prove themselves, but it’s heartening that so many still can.
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