Smooth Like Strait Favored in Evenly Matched Pasadena

A week before some of California's top prospects for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) compete in the March 7 San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, 3-year-olds with a preference for grass will race there Feb. 29 at a mile on turf in the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes.

Although the majority of the nine entrants have faced each other previously, including the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar and the Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita, no clear pecking order has been established within the division. Pasadena competitors Smooth Like Strait, Goliad, and Last Opportunity ran 1-2-3 in the Dec. 1 DeMille, but when Smooth Like Strait and Goliad returned in the Eddie Logan, neither managed to hit the board in a contest that Encoder won over Hariboux and Liar Liar.

Video: Eddie Logan S. (BT)

Encoder is not in the Pasadena. He ran fifth in the Feb. 1 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) on dirt, though runner-up Hariboux and third-place Liar Liar return.

If the previous two stakes provide an illustration, the Pasadena outcome may boil down to what unfolds in terms of pace. Little pace materialized in the DeMille and Smooth Like Strait led throughout, only for the opposite to occur in the Eddie Logan, when hot fractions left the frontrunners gassed.

Goliad, surprisingly part of the early hustle in the Eddie Logan before fading to eighth, figures to revert to stalking tactics in the Pasadena. Utilizing the latter style was much more effective for him over his first three starts, when he was always first or second for owners Perry and Ramona Bass and trainer Richard Mandella.

Abel Cedillo picks up the ride on the son of War Front .

If Goliad is rated, that would suit Cannon Thoroughbreds' Smooth Like Strait. The Michael McCarthy trainee has been one-dimensional, recording his two victories after making the lead. The son of Midnight Lute  still must deal with the rail-drawn Governance, a last-out maiden winner, and the stretched-out dirt sprinter Ra'ad early. Smooth Like Strait is favored on the morning line at 3-1 with Geovanni Franco aboard.

Last Opportunity, who surprised the betting public by rallying for third at 31-1 odds in a slow-paced DeMille, enters the Pasadena a bit fresher than his rivals after trainer Neil Drysdale and owner Team Valor International skipped the Eddie Logan with him. That was the Dandy Man colt's first start in the U.S. after a debut maiden win in Ireland and an 11th-place finish in a 26-horse restricted stakes race there.

Santa Anita training leader Richard Baltas has two horses, Governance and Liar Liar, each with disparate running styles.

"Governance is a second-time gelding," Baltas said of the speedy son of Fed Biz  who broke his maiden going a mile on grass at Santa Anita on Jan. 1. "He ran a big race, and he's a very aggressive horse.

"Liar Liar will be coming from behind."

Entries: Pasadena S.

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, February 29, 2020, Race 7

• STK
• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 3:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Governance (KY)	Tiago Josue Pereira	120	Richard Baltas	10/1
2	2Last Opportunity (IRE)	Mario Gutierrez	120	Neil D. Drysdale	4/1
3	3Rager (KY)	Edwin A. Maldonado	120	Andrew Lerner	12/1
4	4Club Aspen (CA)	Jorge I. Velez	124	Craig Anthony Lewis	12/1
5	5Liar Liar (IRE)	Ruben Fuentes	120	Richard Baltas	6/1
6	6Smooth Like Strait (KY)	Geovanni Franco	124	Michael W. McCarthy	3/1
7	7Ra'ad (KY)	Victor Espinoza	120	Bob Baffert	12/1
8	8Goliad (KY)	Abel Cedillo	120	Richard E. Mandella	5/1
9	9Hariboux (GB)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	122	Jeff Mullins	7/2