Unique Bella heavy favorite In Santa Maria

Arcadia, Calif. 

Champion female sprinter Unique Bella is set to start her 4-year-old campaign on Saturday at Santa Anita.

The Jerry Hollendorfer trained filly is slated to run in the $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes.

Unique Bella kicked off the meet with a victory in the Grade I La Brea Stakes on Dec. 26. She took that race by ¾ of a length after traveling 5-wide under regular rider Mike Smith. 

The Eclipse Award winner stole headlines in 2017 winning multiple graded stakes by more than 22 lengths combined.

The champ is listed as the heavy 3/5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s event where she will face Shenandoah Queen, Mopotism, Kathy’s Song, and Majestic Heat.

Unique Bella has worked solidly at Santa Anita in preparation for this race, including a 6F 1:13 move on Feb. 3.

The Santa Maria has a scheduled post time of 1:30 p.m. 

Accelerate takes San Pasqual Stakes in style

Arcadia, Calif.

Accelerate and jockey Victor Espinoza stole the show in the Grade II San Pasqual Stakes Saturday afternoon.

Espinoza found a rail-winning trip to take the $200K race by a clear margin of victory.

The 5-year-old defeated a field featuring star rivals such as Mubtaahij, Win the Space and Pavel.

Prime Attraction ran a solid second and Pavel completed the trifecta, after a questionable ride by Mario Gutierrez. 

Accelerate returned $9.40 to win and showed a lot left in the tank when crossing the line for trainer John Sadler.  

Racing resumes at The Great Race Place

Arcadia, Calif.  

Santa Anita opens a five-week autumn meeting starting Friday that will point to the Breeders' Cup in November.

The legendary track will conclude the meet on Oct. 29, with Breeders' Cup weekend starting Nov. 3 at Del Mar.

Saturday is expected to be one of the major highlights of the meet, featuring five Grade I races that will provide automatic berths to the Breeders' Cup races.

The Awesome Again Stakes, prep for the BC Classic, has a field of 8 runners on the schedule that include stars like Midnight Storm, Dortmund, Cupid and Mubtaahij. Cupid has been installed as the 2-1 favorite.

The FrontRunner Stakes also features a competitive field on Saturday's card with the likes of Bolt d'Oro, Zatter and Solomini. This race points toward the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Bolt d'Oro, fresh off a dominating victory in the Del Mar Futurity, is the morning-line 2-1 favorite.

After Saturday, the autumn meet will feature one more Grade I event - The Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7

Racing will mainly be conducted on a Thursday through Sunday schedule with post times starting at 1 p.m. during the week and 12:30 p.m. on the weekend.

Track representatives said they expect to have sufficient entries throughout the meet after four Thursday cards were canceled due to insufficient entries during the spring-summer meet. 

Horse racing takes center stage At Del Mar

Del Mar, Calif.

Horse racing has returned to Del Mar for the 2017 summer season and all connections involved are hoping for success and a safe trip around the seaside oval.

In 2016, 17 horses suffered a fatal injury that prompted an investigation along with changes to the racing surface.

All of the 90 horses who ran in the 10 race Opening Day card returned to the barn safely.

Leading rider Mike Smith called the new surface "slow," but also said it's very kind and believes the track "will get tighter after a few days of racing." 

Trainer Phil D’Amato was last year’s top trainer and started Day 1 by taking the Oceanside Stakes with Bowies Hero and jockey Tiago Pereira.

Jockeys Rafael Bejarano and Flavien Prat tied for the top spot in the 2016 standings and stole the show Opening Day.

Bejarano took four mounts to the Winner's Circle, including Shackleford Banks in the last race, and Pratt cashed in on three rides within the first four races.

The on-track attendance for the meet opener was down a bit this year to just over 34,000, lowest since 2001, but Comic-Con was taking over downtown and track officials said they weren't too worried about it. 

The 2017 Del Mar summer meet continues until Sept. 4. 

Always Dreaming makes dream run in derby

Louisville, Kentucky

Trainer Todd Pletcher is not one for visiting the Winner's Circle the first Saturday in May but got a chance to return with his champion colt Always Dreaming.

The three-year-old proved best over a wet track with his solid tactical speed and jockey John Velazquez letting him roll up front and in the clear.

Velazquez sat behind State of Honor at the start, before taking the lead for good and kicking clear around the turn.

Always Dreaming took the 2017 Kentucky Derby by a clear 2 3/4 lengths over closer Lookin at Lee and even running Battle of Midway.

The derby champ returned $11.40 to win and completed the 1 1/4 mile race in a final time of 2:03. 

Lookin at Lee ran to his closing style with a solid up-the-rail run to complete the exacta and is one to use in the exotics moving forward.

Always Dreaming is a reality now and has the pedigree with the talent that makes him one of the top three-year-olds in the country.