San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita - $200,000 (G2)

Dave Bond

Las Vegas, NV -- The 74th running of the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes takes place this weekend - Sunday, February 5th at beautiful Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The race is open to four-year-olds and up and covers 1 1/8 miles on Santa Anita's main track. $200,000 is up for grabs in the seventh race on Santa Anita's Sunday schedule. Post time is set for 2:00 PM PST.

Like the Strub Stakes on Saturday, Sunday's San Antonio serves as an important prep race for the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap that comes our way on March 3rd. Seven quality entries are confirmed with Eclipse Award finalist Game On Dude the unquestioned favorite. However, there are a number of other graded stakes winners in the field for what should be yet another ultra-competitive race at Santa Anita.

Watch and bet the San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita live with Off Track Betting

The Favorites:

Game On Dude - Game on Dude will make his 2012 debut at the San Antonio Stakes after a 2011 season in which he nearly did enough to capture the Eclipse Award for Outstanding older males. He has two Grade 1 Stakes wins and finished second at the Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in November. Last time on this track, Game On Dude won the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes in October.

Uh Oh Bango - Uh Oh Bango most recently posted an upset win at the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on this very track January 7th. Before that was a 4th place finish at the Grade 3 All American Stakes at Golden Gate. Uh Oh Bango has placed in 12 of his 17 career starts.

Tres Borrachos - was the favorite heading into the San Pasqual Stakes but finished second behind Uh Oh Bango. Tres Borrachos won the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap last summer and was third at the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Tres Borrachos starts from the rail on Sunday.

The Others:

Victory Pete - Victory Pete most recently finished second at the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes at Santa Anita on January 8th and posted a fourth place finish at the Del Mar Mile Handicap in August.

Skipshot - Skipshot was another one of the San Antonio Stakes entries that ran in the San Pasqual Stakes on January 7th - a third place finish. Before that Skipshot finished fourth at an Allowance race at Hollywood Park in December.

Ashtar - Ashtar has a pair of fourth place finished in the last two outings - at the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes on January 16th at Santa Anita and at the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes in December.

El Gato Malo - came third in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Santa Anita on January 5th and won a similar race at Hollywood Park on December 7th. One good thing for El Gato Malo is that Corey Nakatani will be in the saddle on Sunday.

The San Antonio Stakes is Race 7 on Santa Anita's Sunday card with a Post Time of 2:00 PM PST.

Post

Horse

Jockey

Trainer

1

Tres Borrachos

R. Bejarano

M. Jones

2

Uh Oh Bango

M. Smith

R. Owens

3

Game On Dude

C. Sutherland

B. Baffert

4

El Gato Malo

C. Nakatani

C. Dollase

5

Ashtar

K. Krigger

K. Nettles

6

Victory Pete

M. Garcia

A. Barba

7

Skipshot

J. Talamo

J. Hollendorfer