Bob and Jackie Wins Off-the-Turf San Gabriel
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Bob and Jackie (red shadow roll) edges Friar's Road in the San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita Park
The San Gabriel Stakes (G3) came off the turf Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park, three of the four prospective starters were scratched, and Bob and Jackie took advantage of the situation to win his first effort on dirt.
With the morning-line favorite, Hit the Road , among the scratches, trainer Richard Baltas said he and owner Calvin Nguyen saw no reason not to give their 5-year-old entire son of Twirling Candy a chance to show what he could do on the main track after a nine-race losing streak on the green—a skein that included a second in the 2020 San Gabriel.
"There was no discussion," Baltas said. "We never tried him on the dirt. He has a little pedigree for the dirt, even though he looks like a grass horse. There were a couple good scratches in there and it was like, 'We have nothing to lose. We need to go.'"
That's just what Bob and Jackie did. With Jose Valdivia Jr. in the irons, he went right to the lead, established a pedestrian pace over the fast strip with Ready Soul pushing him along. He was still in charge exiting the second turn.
By that time, Jose Ortiz had the post-time favorite, Friar's Road , in gear outside the leaders. After looking around a bit early in the stretch run, he mounted a serious challenge through the final sixteenth and fell just a nose short of catching the winner. Ready Soul held on for third with Indian Peak a distant fourth and last as Bob and Jackie completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:53.51.
Asked about how the short field affected the outcome, Baltas credited Valdivia with crafting a winning effort.
"Well, I've seen this horse dig in before and Jose did a great job down the backside to get him to relax," the trainer said. "He kind of throws his head up but he does dig and he dug in and it was a great win."
Valdivia said credit goes all around, including to Bob and Jackie and his owner.
"He was kind of waiting around a little bit," he said. "But when horses came to him, he dug in and tried to fight some more. But hats off to a great team—Calvin for taking a shot. Like he said, it's already a short field (with seven entries) and now it's going to be even shorter (after the scratches). So, why not?"
Bob and Jackie had not won since landing the restricted Wickerr Stakes at Santa Anita in July of 2020, although he had four seconds in the intervening starts. He improved to five wins from 15 starts while scoring his first stakes victory of any kind. The bay has bankrolled $484,631.
Out of the lightly raced Zayat Stables mare Fateer by Eskendereya , Bob and Jackie was bred in Kentucky by Zayat Stables. Nguyen purchased him via Price/Recio Bloodstock for $190,000 from the St George Sale consignment at the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
The 5-year-old colt became Fateer's first graded stakes winner, she has also produced a winner in El Socio who is campaigned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. The 3-year-old colt by Bodemeister also ran Dec. 26 among maiden company at Gulfstream Park on the turf going 1 1/16 miles, finishing fourth. The family has two fillies in the pipeline, Brooklynns Star, by Paynter , who started this year as a juvenile and an unnamed coming 2-year-old by Kitten's Joy .