SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Through Thursday)

JOCKEYS / WINS

Flavien Prat / 67

Juan Hernandez / 37

John Velazquez / 29

Diego Herrera / 27

Abel Cedillo / 21

TRAINERS / WINS

Philip D’Amato / 27

Bob Baffert / 25

Doug O’Neill / 23

John Sadler / 17

Richard Baltas / 16

WEEKEND STAKES AT SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes, fillies and mares bred in CA, 4-year-olds and up, 6 1/2 furlongs downhill turf course

Sunday

• $100,000 Sensational Star Stakes, 4-year-olds and up bred in CA, 6 1/2 furlongs downhill turf course

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Trainer John Sadler and Kosta Hronis of Hronis Racing know they have a special mare in Edgeway, who won Sunday’s Grade III Las Flores Stakes at Santa Anita by seven lengths, and they intend to take good care of her the rest of the year. “The focus with her is the fall,” Hronis said. “We want to try to get her back to the Breeders’ Cup. So staying home, not doing a lot of traveling with her until we have to is how we’ll approach it. We’ll keep our options open and see how she comes out of the race and then make a plan for the next race.” Edgeway finished second behind Ce Ce in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

• Doug O’Neill enters Friday’s card at Santa Anita as the meet’s third-leading trainer behind Philip D’Amato and Bob Baffert, but he’s got bigger fish to fry in the near future. He’ll saddle Hot Rod Charlie in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 26. He returned recently from visiting Hot Rod Charlie in Dubai and told Ed Golden of Santa Anita publicity that the colt is doing well leading up to the race. “The trip was great and Hot Rod Charlie is doing well, so no complaints,” he said. “All is good there.” O’Neill, who’s won two Kentucky Derbies, is a candidate for the sport’s Hall of Fame this year.

Related Articles

• “All Other Three-Year-Olds” closed as the 4-1 favorite in the fourth Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool that closed Sunday. Smile Happy, ticketed next for the Florida Derby or Blue Grass, was the second choice at 6-1 and Forbidden Kingdom closed at 7-1. None of Baffert’s horses are included in the KDFW because Churchill Downs has banned the Hall of Fame trainer from the next two Derbies. The fifth and final KDFW will be held beginning at 9 a.m. March 31 and concluding at 3 p.m. April 2.

— Art Wilson