Desert Stone to Test Got Stormy, River Boyne in Kilroe

Desert Stone will carry trainer Richard Baltas' hopes but different silks when the graded stakes-winning turf horse takes on nine rivals, including favorites Got Stormy and River Boyne, in the $400,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) March 7 at Santa Anita Park. 

Desert Stone won the Jan. 4 San Gabriel Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita for Baltas and then-owner Zayat Stables but has since changed ownership after a court-appointed receiver approved a sale to Slam Dunk Racing, Michael Nentwig, and Joey Platts. Financially troubled Zayat Stables is involved in a lawsuit with MGG Investment Group, which seeks millions in damages as a result of unpaid loans.

So the new chapter of Desert Stone's career begins Saturday, and it is a challenging one. Besides Got Stormy and River Boyne, the Kilroe includes such stakes winners as True Valour, Next Shares, Ohio, and Kingly. Another contender, Frontier Market, came within a head of winning the Baltimore/Washington International Turf Cup Stakes (G3T) when second in that race last year.

Though Desert Stone's ownership has changed, his rider, Geovanni Franco, remains the same—a clear plus based on the horse's record. He has been up for all three of the horse's wins from 16 starts.

"He's the only one that knows how to ride him. He's kind of a weird horse," Baltas said. "You just have to leave him alone, and he'll come running at the end."

That strategy worked in the San Gabriel when the rallying 5-year-old Fastnet Rock horse angled out after saving ground and outkicked favored Cleopatra's Strike by a neck.

Working out as sweet of a trip Saturday might be more difficult. He drew the outside post.

His barn mate, the talented but inconsistent grade 1 winner Next Shares, drew more toward the inside in post 4, a starting position that pleases Baltas, who believes the horse doesn't like racing without cover. He finished last of 12 with a wide trip last out in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1T) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.

"Sometimes he runs huge, and sometimes he runs a clunker," said Baltas, the meet's leading trainer through March 5.

Next Shares is owned by his trainer, Debby Baltas, Julia and Michael Ivarone, Jerry McClanahan, Jeremy Peskoff, Ritchie Robershaw, and Mark Taylor.

Seeking to bounce back from a subpar season debut is Got Stormy, who buried backers at 1-5 odds in the Feb. 8 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (G3T) at Tampa Bay Downs, where she ran fourth.

Following that race, trainer Mark Casse regrouped with the millionaire mare by moving her from his training center in Ocala, Fla., to breeze on turf at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida. He said some of her strongest races last year, including a win in the Fourstardave Handicap (G1T), were after grass works.

Her past two breezes on the grass there have been swift: a bullet :45.70 half-mile Feb. 23 and a :47 half-mile Feb. 29.

Tyler Gaffalione, her rider in eight of the past nine starts, will travel from his base in Florida to ride the Gary Barber-owned 5-year-old daughter of Get Stormy . She is the 5-2 morning-line favorite.

River Boyne, the second choice on the morning line at 3-1, snapped an eight-race losing streak by taking the Feb. 8 Thunder Road Stakes (G3T). Jockey Abel Cedillo was able to save ground in a stalking position before tipping him out in the stretch, and the 5-year-old Dandy Man horse pulled away. He also won five stakes as a 3-year-old, three graded, for trainer Jeff Mullins and owners Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal.

Adding blinkers is Frontier Market, a closing fifth in the Thunder Road in his first start in Southern California.

The Kilroe is the first of two grade 1s on a 12-race card, which is highlighted by the Santa Anita Handicap (G1). The Kilroe is the fifth race with a scheduled post time of 1:30 p.m. PT.

Entries: Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. (G1T)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, March 07, 2020, Race 5

• Grade IT
• 1m
• Turf
• $400,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 1:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1True Valour (IRE)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	122	Simon Callaghan	6/1
2	2River Boyne (IRE)	Abel Cedillo	122	Jeff Mullins	3/1
3	3Got Stormy (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	119	Mark E. Casse	5/2
4	4Next Shares (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Richard Baltas	10/1
5	5Sellwood (KY)	Mike E. Smith	120	Jeff Mullins	15/1
6	6Ohio (BRZ)	Jose Valdivia, Jr.	122	Michael W. McCarthy	6/1
7	7Kingly (KY)	Mario Gutierrez	122	Bob Baffert	15/1
8	8Frontier Market (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	John W. Sadler	6/1
9	9Sash (GB)	Drayden Van Dyke	120	Mark Glatt	30/1
10	10Desert Stone (IRE)	Geovanni Franco	122	Richard Baltas	10/1