Santa Anita Handicap to go on without Game on Dude
The major event in the history of California sport, the Grade 1 $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap will go underway without Game on Dude in the lineup to defend his title and go for a back to back win in the most prestigious event for older horses.
No other horse has walked his beat again in the Santa Anita Handicap ever since the race was first run in 1935, but the way Game on Dude did it last year while bumping with the race runner up, Setsuko, and Twirling Candy, the race itself deserved a less
muddled plot this time around with almost the main protagonists participating in the $750,000 event.
The 5-year-old gelded son of Awesome Again, out of mare Worldly Pleasure by Devil His Due, Game on Dude after his successful 2012 debut in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes will make his second start of the season half way across the world in the Group 1, $10
million Dubai World Cup at the Meydan on 31 March, 2012.
The Santa Anita Handicap is set to go today on 3 March, 2012, and Game on Dude has left 13 relative unknowns to fight it out this time around, and without the gelding with a massive national following after his brilliant run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic,
the race is in danger of being a flat one.
However, the son of Mizzen Mast, Ultimate Eagle, after his runaway win in the Grade 2 Strub Stakes over at 1 1/8 miles on his first ever start on dirt is looking like a good prospect.
After making his name on turf last year, when he grabbed the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on grass and then finishing third in the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes over the same surface, Ultimate Eagle could runaway in the Santa Anita
Handicap as well.
Last year’s Santa Anita Handicap runner-up, Setsuko is back, but no Game on Dude to take revenge on. The 5-year-old Pleasantly Perfect gelding also started his 2012 campaign on a winning note when he downed an allowance/optional claimer at about 1 1/16 miles
at Santa Anita last month.
Gladding who finished way behind Game on Dude and Setsuko last year is back in the mix, and the Handicap will mark as his 2012 debut as he exits a 4th place finish in the Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes back in 2011.
With Game on Dude to dwell in the desert, the Santa Anita Handicap might experience a dip in its popularity graph, but the existing lineup has the tendency to make it into an encounter with lots of twists and turns.
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