Smooth Like Strait Chases Another 2020 Stakes Win

After coming up just short in the Hollywood Derby (G1T), Cannon Thoroughbreds' Smooth Like Strait will try to secure a fourth stakes win this season when he closes out 2020 with a start in the $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile Stakes (G2T) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park.

The Mathis Brothers Mile, which sees Smooth Like Strait listed as the 8-5 morning-line choice in an expected field of seven 3-year-olds on the turf, is the first of six stakes scheduled for Santa Anita's opening day card for its winter-spring meet.

Smooth Like Strait grabbed his third stakes win of the season when he tracked early before drawing clear in the far turn to win the Twilight Derby (G2T) by 1 1/2 lengths Oct. 18 on the Santa Anita course. He then came up a head short in the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar when the Chad Brown-trained Domestic Spending, who was shipped from the East Coast, caught him in the final strides. 

Since then the son of Midnight Lute  has worked twice for trainer Michael McCarthy at Santa Anita, including a half-mile work in :48 Dec. 11—earning the bullet from 58 workers at the distance that day. Jockey Umberto Rispoli is scheduled to ride Smooth Like Strait for a third straight race.

A familiar rival awaits Smooth Like Strait as the well-traveled Field Pass returns to Southern California off a one-length victory in the Ontario Derby (G3) on the synthetic surface at Woodbine. Before that effort, the son of Lemon Drop Kid  finished third, 2 1/4 lengths behind Smooth Like Strait, in the Twilight Derby.

Video: Twilight Derby (G2T)

Three Diamonds Farm's Field Pass boasts five stakes wins at five different tracks this season, including back-to-back scores in turf races in Kentucky in the summer: the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland.

The runner-up from the Twilight Derby, Little Red Feather Racing and Marsha Naify's Scarto, also is entered in the Mathis Brothers Mile where he will try to bounce back from a sixth-place finish in the Hollywood Derby. Trained by Mike Puype, the Twilight Derby was the graded stakes debut for the Paynter  gelding, who in February won the American Fabius Stakes on the dirt at Gulfstream Park.

The field also includes 2019 TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Storm the Court, who will try to bounce back from a seventh-place finish in the Hollywood Derby. The son of Court Vision  did pass four horses late in the Hollywood Derby after finishing second in the La Jolla Handicap (G3T) in his turf debut Aug. 9 at Del Mar.

Between those two efforts, Storm the Court finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) Sept. 5 at Churchill for trainer Peter Eurton. While last year's Juvenile winner is looking for his first victory of 2020, he has added three graded stakes-placings this season. 

Racing Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez is scheduled to ride Storm the Court for the first time Saturday.

Entries: Mathis Brothers Mile S. (G2T)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, December 26, 2020, Race 4

• Grade IIT
• 1m
• Turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo
• 12:36 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Whisper Not (GB)	Joel Rosario	120	Richard Baltas	5/1
2	2Strongconstitution (KY)	Abel Cedillo	122	Doug F. O'Neill	12/1
3	3Storm the Court (KY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Peter Eurton	8/1
4	4Heywoods Beach (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	John W. Sadler	12/1
5	5Smooth Like Strait (KY)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	124	Michael W. McCarthy	8/5
6	6Field Pass (MD)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Michael J. Maker	5/2
7	7Scarto (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Mike Puype	4/1