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Pick Pony | Sept. 29, 2024, 1:42 p.m.
Straight No Chaser and Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez achieved a dominant front-running victory in Sunday’s GII, $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, covering six furlongs at Santa Anita.
Trained by Dan Blacker, Straight No Chaser (3-2) was the quickest out of the gate and set fractions of 21.83 and 44.28 seconds for the opening half mile. Upon reaching the stretch, Straight No Chaser pulled away from the field, crossing the wire in 1:08.54 to win by 6 ¼ lengths. Roll On Big Joe (21-1) with Umberto Rispoli finished a distant second, while See Through It (13-1), ridden by Tiago Pereira, completed the trifecta.
“He was ready from the start,” Velazquez said. “If he breaks good, and loose reins, that’s what he likes. He relaxes until somebody gets next to him…I just had to put my hands down and let him do what he needs to do.
Fort Bragg, who was coming off a 10-month layoff, went off with $414 more in the win pool than Straight No Chaser to be the slight favorite. He made a three-wide bid on the turn under Juan Hernandez but flattened out in the stretch to finish fourth.
Owned by My Racehorse, Straight No Chaser improved to 9: 5-0-1 with$376,300 in earnings. In his only previous start this year in May, the 4-year-old Speightster horse stumbled at the break in the GIII Runhappy going six furlongs at Aqueduct and finished fourth. His only previous stakes win came in last year’s GIII Maryland Sprint at Pimlico on the Preakness Stakes undercard.
“They were running,” Blacker said. “He broke really quick today and when I saw him going into the turn, how easy he was going and we were in the right spot, I felt pretty confident.”
Straight No Chaser paid $5.00, $3.60 and $3.00. Roll On Big Joe, trained by Robert Hess Jr., returned $10.80 and $6.20. See Through It, trained by Genaro Vallejo, paid $5.00.