Combatant Upsets Midcourt in Santa Anita Handicap

Trainer John Sadler and owner Hronis Racing made history the hard way in the 83rd Santa Anita Handicap (G1) March 7, winning the $601,000 race for the third consecutive year and doing so with 9-1 Combatant after having to scratch defending champion Gift Box earlier in the day.

Gift Box and 2018 winner Accelerate  were among the favorites when they won this race, but Combatant was an outsider. He had never won a stakes until Saturday.

Now he's a grade 1 winner, joining Gift Box and $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic winner Higher Power as older horses with that achievement in the Sadler stable. All three were bought as in-training racehorses by Hronis Racing and saw their fortunes turn around with transfers to California to race for Sadler.

Saturday was just Combatant's second start for them, and the 5-year-old Scat Daddy ridgling improved upon his previous start, a third-place finish in the San Pasqual Stakes (G2). Much more involved early than he had been in that race, Combatant stalked the pace in fourth as Brown Storm set the pace with fractions of :23.66, :47.87, and 1:12.37 in the 1 1/4-mile dirt race.

He remained in fourth until late on the second turn when jockey Joel Rosario called him into action. Then Combatant bid four wide, taking the lead in midstretch and lasting for a neck victory over an inside-rallying Multiplier, with pace-chasing favorite Midcourt another half-length back in third.

"As a little kid coming to the racetrack, we always came to the Santa Anita Handicap," said Kosta Hronis, who, along with his brother, Pete, comprise Hronis Racing. "To be in the race is an honor, and to win it three times in a row, that is just a tribute to John Sadler and his team."

Rosario became available for Combatant when Gift Box was scratched with what Sadler said was an injured ankle. He replaced Umberto Rispoli, who was named to ride March 4 at the time of entries.

"It's beautiful—it was nice to win and to win it for John," Rosario said. "I feel sorry that my other horse scratched, but this was a nice thing to make up for that."

According to the trainer, the change required "double jock mount," meaning Rispoli would receive equivalent payment to Rosario's earnings. 

The winner was clocked in 2:02.32 for the distance, returning $21.20 for a $2 win wager as the fourth betting choice in the field of seven.

"Obviously, we wanted to run Gift Box," Sadler said. "This horse we were considering somewhere else, but I put him in as an insurance policy."

That insurance policy paid off Saturday, coming in Combatant's second attempt at the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles. He was 18th over the trip in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) in the slop at Churchill Downs for previous trainer Steve Asmussen.

Though he fared poorly in the Derby, he still placed in six stakes in 22 starts for Asmussen and then-owners Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing. Then, late in his 4-year-old year, he went through the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, where bloodstock agent David Ingordo purchased him for $220,000 from the Gainesway consignment.

Bred in Kentucky by Paget Bloodstock, Combatant is out of the Boundary mare Border Dispute, making him related to three other black-type horses, including Long Lashes (by Rock Hard Ten), the winner of the Skybet.com Sweet Solera Stakes (G3) in 2009. His dam produced an American Pharoah  filly in 2018 named Lisboa, and has a yearling colt by the Triple Crown winner as well. She was bred to Mendelssohn  for 2020.

Though he didn't win, 6-year-old Multiplier turned in one of his best performances since winning the Illinois Derby (G3) as a 3-year-old in 2017. The Peter Miller-trained runner-up slipped up the fence under Tyler Gaffalione, far outrunning his odds of 33-1.

"Multiplier gave it everything he had like he always does, but we just didn’t have enough in the end," Gaffalione said.

Midcourt, who had won five of his previous six entering the race, seemed a bit intimidated racing between rivals on the second turn and through the lane. The 3-5 favorite was bumped a bit by a lugging-out rival, jockey Victor Espinoza said, on his way to finishing third.

"He was still running, but not like he has in his best races. He tried hard, but he’s run better than that,” he said.

Attendance was 15,256 for the 12-race program at Santa Anita, one of the track's top days of racing during its winter/spring meet.

Video: Santa Anita H. (G1)