SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Thursday)

JOCKEYS / WINS

Flavien Prat / 72

Juan Hernandez / 63

John Velazquez / 32

Tyler Baze / 31

Diego Herrera / 29

TRAINERS / WINS

Philip D’Amato / 35

Doug O’Neill / 32

Bob Baffert / 27

John Sadler / 27

Richard Baltas / 23

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Del Mar management announced Thursday that attendance will be capped on opening day, Friday, July 22, for the second consecutive summer. Track officials recommend that fans who want to attend opening day purchase tickets online when they become available via dmtc.com/tickets at 10 a.m. Friday, May 13. Beginning this year, general admission tickets will also provide access to the clubhouse area. Parking will return to being sold separately. After opening weekend, Del Mar will race Thursdays through Sundays, as well as Labor Day on Sept. 5. The meet concludes Sunday, Sept. 11.

• The unbeaten Flightline turned in his second workout since missing the Grade II San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita on March 5 because of a strained right hock, going 4 furlongs in 47.20 seconds under trainer John Sadler’s assistant, Juan Leyva, on Sunday. The $1 million son of Tapit had his first breeze back the weekend before, going 3 furlongs in 37 seconds. The $1.2 million Met Mile at Belmont Park on June 11 remains the goal for Flightline. “It’s a process to get him back to where he was,” Sadler told Santa Anita publicity. “Step one was last Sunday, step two was this Sunday, so we’re moving forward.”

Related Articles

• The Michael McCarthy-trained Ce Ce, last year’s winner of the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top female sprinter, worked 5 furlongs last Saturday in 1:01 at Santa Anita in preparation for a start in Saturday’s $1 million Grade I Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. Victor Espinoza again has the mount on the 6-year-old Elusive Quality mare. The Apple Blossom, which Ce Ce won in 2020, drew a short field of five, including another 2021 Eclipse Award winner, 7-5 morning-line favorite Letruska, who took home top honors as best older dirt female. Ce Ce is the second choice at 2-1.

— Art Wilson