January 23, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:30 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 5-Orange Thunder; 4-Lady Mendelssohn Backups: 2-Sasafran. Forecast: Orange Thunder stretches out again and based on the company she’s been chasing appears to have found a much easier spot, one that should […]
Read more
January 20, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:00 PT Grade: C+ Main Ticket: 4-Running Spartan; 7-Crazy Cavalier; 10-Mr. Leasure Backups: none. Forecast: We’ll spread the opener, a maiden $50,000 claiming turf sprint for older horses. Running Spartan shows up in a seller for the first […]
Read more
January 19, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:30 PT Grade: A- Main Ticket: 7-No Bad Beats; 3-Pam and Tina (Ire). Backups: none. Forecast: Although she was beaten at 40 cents on the dollar and saw her Beyer speed figure drop 17 points from […]
Read more
January 18, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:30 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 3-Shapoval; 7-Lord Dunmore. Backups: none. Forecast: Lord Dunmore looks logical on paper in a weak race for maiden special weight sophomore grass sprinters. However, his numbers are far below par for […]
Read more
January 16, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:00 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 4-Over the Ocean; 5-Mysterious Husband; 1-Final Edition Backups: 3-Goodfella. Forecast: There’s little separation on form among several contenders in this nine furlong maiden special weight turf affair for older horses. Over […]
Read more
January 11, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:30 PT Grade: X Main Ticket: 8-Miles Finch. Backups: 6-Got Soul. Forecast: Miles Finch returns to a sprint and probably is much more comfortable around one turn. The sophomore son of Vronsky improved his speed figure by […]
Read more
January 5, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:30 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 9-Day Dawning; 5-Holly Goquickly. Backups: Fire Ban. Forecast: Tough opener. Day Dawning has a few angles in her chart that catch the eye, so we’ll lean on her as the top pick despite […]
Read more
January 4, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:30 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 4-Baldoro; 5-Hot Legs Romolo. Backups: 6-Cupid’s Crusader; 3-Anreadytorumble. Forecast: This restricted (nw-2) $25,000 claimer over nine furlongs on grass most likely will offer soft early splits, so the race flow […]
Read more
January 3, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:00 PT Grade: C Main Ticket: 2-Cultural; 9-Empire Warrior; 8-Toppers At Seaside Backups: 6-Chasin a Dollar; 3-Exalted Ruler; 7-Canyahearmeknockin Forecast: The opener is an inscrutable maiden $32,000 claiming sprint for newly turned 3-year-olds that requires as […]
Read more
January 1, 2025 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:00 PT Grade: C+ Main Ticket: 2-Lita Way; 7-Winter Snow. Backups: none, Forecast: Lita Way appeared to be going the best of the lot in the late stages when fifth but beaten less than two lengths in […]
Read more
Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Sunday, December 29, 2024 Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:00 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 1-Way too Sexy; 2-Cyprus Moon. Backups : 7-Spanish Cara. Forecast: Way too Sexy is a fast-working first time starter for trainer B. Baffert with the stable’s “go-to” rider J. […]
Read more
December 28, 2024 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:30 PT Grade: B Main Ticket: 4-Scipio; 1-War to Remember; 2-Paarl. Backups : 6-Dettori. Forecast: Scipio was extremely well meant in the Cecil B. DeMille S.-G3 even as a maiden but was victimized by a lack of […]
Read more
December 27, 2024 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 12:00 PT Grade: C+ Main Ticket: 2-Avoir; 7-Long Mayshe Reign. Backups : 6-Certitude. Forecast: Many of these know each other well. Whose turn will it be today? Avoir has never finished off the board in four starts over […]
Read more
Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Thursday, December 26, 2024 Santa Anita Park ______________________________________________________________________________ Santa Anita Race 1: Post: 11:00 PT Grade: B- Main Ticket: 8-Mas Rapido; 3-Oscar Joy. Backups : 4-Money Makes Money; 9-Count of Amazonia. Forecast: Anything goes in these slalom events, but Mas Rapido has winning form over the course and a significant […]
Read more
December 22, 2024 Jeff Siegel’s “What You Need to Know” Fair Grounds ______________________________________________________________________________ Fair Grounds Race 6: Post: 3:15 CT Grade: A- Top Selection/Prime Play: 9-Darrow Forecast: Just a few days short of turning four years old, Darrow finally makes it to the races and though late to the party may prove to be a worth the […]
Read more