(Trainer John Sadler, who conditions Flightline / Photos by Holly M. Smith)

From the Santa Anita media team:

OPENING CARD OF RUNHAPPY MALIBU HEADS

Flightline was racing’s worst-kept secret when it made its debut on April 24 in Santa Anita.

Tapit’s precocious $ 1 million son was favored at 9-10 and won the six-stage sprint by 13 ¼ length. Its main supporters pressed their luck to 20 cents on the dollar, an optional six-stadium claim race, in Del Mar on September 5.

He won by 12¾ in length.

Next stop: the prestigious Runhappy Malibu Stakes Grade I in Santa Anita on opening day Sunday, December 26.

To achieve this goal, Flightline worked five stadiums at 6.30am Sunday morning in 1:20 am under the regular pilot Flavien Prat.

“He went really well in one minute and galloped (seven stages) in (one) 25,” said coach John Sadler. “He just sailed there in his last job before the race.

“I feel very good about his chances,” added Sadler, who is conditioning the bay colt for owners Hronis Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds. “We hope it’s Christmas on the 26th^e.

“He trained until the super race; we’ve had an eye on the Malibu for a few months. These are the right conditions, three years, a grade I at seven eighths which we think will be a good distance for him.

“It will be his first time against better horses, but we are delighted with the challenge.

On paper, the obvious competition seems to come from Dr Schivel, winner of five consecutive races including two Class I before suffering an excruciating nose loss in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in Del Mar on November 6.

Flightline will be Malibu’s favorite after time, with Dr Schivel, favorite in four of eight starts, relegated to second pick.

Prat has ridden Dr. Schivel in his last five starts and Flightline in his two races, but remains with the latter in the Malibu.

“It’s a certainty,” Sadler said.

Dr Schivel worked for the Malibu this morning, covering a half mile in 48.20 for trainer Mark Glatt. Registrations for the opening day were taken this morning and will be available later today on santaanita.com

SANTA ANITA PAYS TRIBUTE TO SHERMAN ART SUNDAY

Art Sherman, David of the race who killed the game’s Goliaths with an unlikely slingshot named California Chrome, will be honored by Santa Anita on Sunday as he retires at 84 after a sprawling jockey and coaching career over six decades.

Sherman left the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn at the age of seven, then robbed his contemporaries in the jock room while playing gin rummy at the old Jamaica racetrack in the late 1950s as a backup runner on the New York circuit, and later became a successful trainer, winning 2,261 races.

Either way, it’s been a wild ride.

“There are things that Faye (his wife is approaching 60) and I want to do, and at the moment I am closing my barn (in Los Alamitos) where I have a lot of equipment and the children come for the holidays”, Sherman said when asked about his immediate plans now that the reality of retirement has set in.

“I just sold my place at Cypress (near Los Alamitos, Sherman’s practice headquarters and home of California Chrome during its glory years), so I’m moving. I have a lot of business on the agenda right now.

Fortunately, this is not the case, it is his health.

Sherman, who turns 85 on February 17, underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his bladder in March 2019, but is now cancer-free. “This problem is behind me,” he said, “so that’s great.

“I don’t know what to say more about California Chrome. Everything has been written on him. I’ve been on two radio shows recently, one in Kentucky, TVG did a nice piece about me to air shortly and (Los Alamitos owner Ed) Doc Allred threw a catered party for me at which attended about 100 people.

Sherman saddled his last horse on December 10 at Los Alamitos, 9-1 shooting Alchemy finishing seventh under jockey Wayne Barnett, but win or lose, Sherman keeps a cool head, a trait that has helped him succeed on a long road and intimidating and established him as one of the game’s most revered ambassadors.

“Art is a great guy who follows the Shoemaker model,” said Brian Beach, former agent for Victor Espinoza who won the California Chrome at the 2014 Kentucky Derby and until 2016 when he won his second horse title. ‘year.

“He doesn’t go too high on the highs and too low on the lows, and we suffered some major losses, losing the Belmont to the Triple Crown and losing the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“The art was always the same. He never blamed Victor, was easy to manage and a straight shooter. He’s just a lovely man.

Sherman recalls: “I met a lot of nice people all over the world, I met all the foreign owners and coaches in Dubai, I was next to the Queen at Royal Ascot. These are things you will always remember.

“Chrome is in Japan (at Arrow Stud the 2021 fee for a live foal was $ 36,000) and I was invited to see it, although it’s a bad time to travel.

“Maybe we can leave next year if things relax a bit, but at the moment it’s a real problem to travel abroad.”

California Chrome turns 11 on January 1. He won 16 of 27 starts with $ 14,752,650 and was viscerally the most popular horse of his generation. Hard to understand now, but “The People’s Horse” is widely credited with drawing 72,811 fans to see him compete in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in Santa Anita on November 5, 2016.

“Things are coming to an end,” reflected Art. “We saw all the best of this game, all the great horses that raced in Santa Anita when I was young, but racing is different now.”

Sherman developed California Chrome into a masterpiece of form and function, achieving international success and international acclaim, contributing powerfully to the positive exposure the game sorely needed, and it paid off.

And for the race.

GRADE I RACES, OPENING DAY PROMOTIONS

Santa Anita presents six graduate stakes on opening day Sunday, December 26, including three grade I.

Additionally, the tiered track will feature a variety of events and promotions, including the popular Craft Beer and Cider Festival.

The first posting time for the 11-race schedule is 11:00 am Admission doors open at 9:00 am

Available for ages 21 and over, the Craft Beer and Cider Festival will feature LA’s best food vendors and food trucks, both by the track and near Santa Anita’s Kingsbury Fountain at the west end of the Paddocks. Gardens.

Fans can save money by purchasing a general package online, which includes a tasting cup, tasting card, $ 5 bet voucher, and admission including the program and general parking.

VIP package upgrades, which include reserved trackside seating and a $ 15 food voucher, are also available online and in person.

In addition to the Grade I Runhappy Malibu Stakes, Grade I American Oaks, and Grade I La Brea Stakes, the map is amply and ably supported by the San Antonio Stakes, Santa Anita Mathis Mile, and San Gabriel Stakes, each a Grade II event.

If there is a special day to enjoy the race in Santa Anita this meeting, it would be Sunday.

Per the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s mega-event guidelines, fans 12 and older must provide proof of vaccination status before entering Santa Anita. Alternatively, fans can show proof of a negative test result (done within 72 hours of the date of the event).

For more information on security protocols, please visit santaanita.com/health.

WALL CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EARLY ICONIC YEARS

Continuing a decades-long tradition, Santa Anita will once again be giving fans a beautiful Santa Anita Wall Calendar on Opening Sunday, free with paid entry.

This year’s calendar features numerous unseen archive photos of The Great Race Place from when it opened on December 25, 1934.

From crowd photos to photos of legendary racing figures such as George Woolf, Gordon Glisson, Johnny Longden and Bill Shoemaker, the calendar also features racing and architectural photos illustrating the technological advancements on offer in a ‘compare and contrast’ format. each month.

After the opening day, the wall calendar will be on sale in the circuit gift shop, Champions! Gifts and clothing.

The first message for the opening day card for the 11 races will be 11 a.m. Santa Anita also offers live races on Monday, December 27, with the first post for a 10-race schedule at 11:30 am Santa Anita will be inactive for live races December 28 and 29 and reopen for a four-week race. days from Thursday December 30 to Sunday January 2.

The first hour of publication on December 30, 31 and January 2 will be at 12:30 p.m. First hour of publication New Year’s Day, Saturday January 1, will be at 12 noon. There is free general admission and parking on December 30 and 31

Although post times vary due to limited daylighting the first six race days, the first post, with a few exceptions, will be at 12:30 p.m. most other race days through April.

Santa Anita’s 78-day winter / spring meet ends June 19.

FINISHING LINES: Among the 270 workouts recorded on Sunday was a movement of seven stages of Doug O’Neill vigorous Hot rod Charlie in 1:27 for the San Antonio Stakes Grade II; five-stage training track exercises by Phil D’Amato interns Go global and the alley of Burgoo, each 1: 00.80 for the American Oaks; and winner of Zenyatta Private mission, five stages in a ball 58.60 for Bob baffert, who prepares the daughter of in evil for the issues of La Brea. . . There were 179 workouts recorded this morning, 52 on the practice track. . . Sadler has confirmed that the winner of last year’s Santa Anita Derby Rock your world and Millionaire Grade I sprinter Flag pole were withdrawn, although these “could have a second act” and follow in the Hall of Fame the hoofprints of Lava man, now barn pony turning 21^st birthday on New Years Day and is affectionately referred to as “The Coach” by O’Neill and his team. “Flagstaff is going to be lucky enough to be a pony since he’s a gelding (who turns eight on Jan. 1,” Sadler said. “We’ve been denouncing him for 90 or 100 days and then we’ll bring him back and see how ‘he will adapt to become a nice pony. If that doesn’t work, he will just have a nice retirement. Santa Anita will long time honor Daily Race Form National Correspondent Jay Privman naming the third race, at 6 ½ stades on the grassy hillside course, on the opening day in his honor. The National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame recently announced that Privman will soon be inducted into the Joe Hirsch Media Honor Roll, which is reserved for members of the media who join the Hall of Fame.