Saturday's 8th race (4:07PM PT) from Santa Anita Park is an Optional Claiming event for state bred or sired 4-year-olds and up traveling a flat mile on the turf (rail at 24 feet).
#8 Short Memo (5-1) easily captured his turf sprint bow across town and he ended up an even 5th in a synthetic sprint in his second career start Nov 27. According to
Today's Racing Digest (see capture below), Kathy Walsh is 6 for her last 15 and she also excels with the sprint/route move. Joe Talamo (2 wins Friday) is 2-for-4 with this barn recently and the gelded son of Grey Memo is bred to go this far.
#5 Control Seeker (7-2) is a NoCal transplant now under the care of Paddy Gallagher. I like the rider upgrade to Garrett Gomez and the realistically spotted versatile gelding fits on numbers.
#6 Miguel's Mascot (5-1) is not big on winning but is a Trifecta threat. The Digest clocker was impressed with his local move Dec 31.
#7 Sammartino (5-1) has fired Trifecta shots in 8 of 9 lifetime starts.
The Plays: $16 to win #8, $6 Exacta Box 5-8 ($12), $1 Trifecta 6-8/5-6-7-8/5-6-7-8 ($12)analysis by Jarrod Horak