D'Amato Trainees Head San Juan Capistrano, American

Santa Anita Park brings down the curtain on its winter/spring meet with three stakes on its closing day, June 19, highlighted by two graded events on grass, the $125,000 San Juan Capistrano Stakes (G3T) and $100,000 American Stakes (G3T).

Also on the Sunday Program is the $100,000 Possibly Perfect Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile turf race in which graded winner Neige Blanche  is the headliner.

Santa Anita's leading trainer with 55 wins through June 15, Phil D'Amato seeks his fourth consecutive win in the San Juan Capistrano, sending out a pair of veterans, 6-year-old Rijeka  and 8-year-old past San Juan winner Red King  among a field of eight racing 1 3/4 miles on turf with a hillside start.

Although Red King, who won the 2020 San Juan and was third in last year's edition, is the more accomplished of the two, Irish-bred Rijeka is also in sharp current form and he'll be making his third start off an extended layoff on Sunday. 

Like his stablemate Red King, it would appear that Rijeka's best-case scenario is to lag early and make a big run late. A 6-year-old gelding owned by Slam Dunk Racing and Michael Nentwig, Rijeka, although he's never won a stakes, has placed in five turf stakes lifetime, including a second-place finish in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes (G3T) at age 2.  

A full horse at age eight, Red King, a son of English Channel  who will be making his fourth appearance in the San Juan Capistrano, comes off a second-place finish in a 1 1/4-mile turf allowance optional claimer at Santa Anita May 22. Owned by Philip Belmonte and Gordon Jacobsen, Red King is 40-8-6-10 with earnings of $560,555.

E Squared Stables, Marc Detampel, and Fergus Galvin's Modus Operandi  ships in from Churchill Downs and also looms a very serious threat for trainer Brendan Walsh.

Hong Kong Harry Moves Into Graded Company in American

A dazzling winner of his only two stateside starts, Irish-bred Hong Kong Harry  steps into graded stakes competition and shortens up a furlong as he heads a field of 10 3-year-olds and up in the American Stakes at one mile over the Santa Anita turf.

Small in stature but blessed with what appears to be tremendous talent, Hong Kong Harry, a 5-year-old chestnut gelding, won four out of his seven starts in England at ages 3 and 4 and made his U.S. debut here at Santa Anita on March 6.  Off at 1-2 in a 1 1/8-mile turf allowance optional claimer, he was away slowly but won easily by three lengths. The result was similar in a second condition allowance April 16 going 1 1/8 miles on grass and scored by 1 1/2 lengths.

One of two Phil D'Amato trainees in the American, the other being Gregdar , Hong Kong Harry is owned by Scott Anastasi, Jimmy Ukegawa, and Tony Valazza.

Most recently second, beaten a half-length as the 5-2 favorite in the San Francisco Mile (G3T) at Golden Gate Fields April 30, Vanzzy  would appear to rate big chance in what will be his first start for trainer Dan Blacker.  

Ecrivain , Homer Screen , and Tripoli —who won the TVG Pacific Classic (G1) last year on dirt—are other contenders.

Entries: San Juan Capistrano S. (G3T)

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, June 19, 2022, Race 7

• Grade III
• 1 3/4m
• Downhill turf
• $125,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	Breakpoint (CHI)	Tyler Baze	122	Neil D. Drysdale	6/1
2	Kazan (IRE)	Ryan Curatolo	122	Leonard Powell	12/1
3	Avenue (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	122	Michael W. McCarthy	4/1
4	Dean Martini (KY)	Edwin A. Maldonado	122	Peter Eurton	8/1
5	Red King (KY)	Abel Cedillo	122	Philip D'Amato	5/2
6	Muhammad Ali (PER)	Tiago Josue Pereira	122	Genaro Vallejo	15/1
7	Modus Operandi (IRE)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	122	Brendan P. Walsh	4/1
8	Rijeka (IRE)	Joe Bravo	122	Philip D'Amato	7/2

Entries: American S. (G3T)

Santa Anita Park, Sunday, June 19, 2022, Race 11

• Grade IIIT
• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 6:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	Ecrivain (FR)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	124	Richard E. Mandella	4/1
2	Hong Kong Harry (IRE)	Ramon A. Vazquez	122	Philip D'Amato	4/1
3	Vanzzy (KY)	Joe Bravo	122	Dan Blacker	7/2
4	Gregdar (KY)	Ryan Curatolo	122	Philip D'Amato	10/1
5	Restrainedvengence (KY)	Abel Cedillo	124	Val Brinkerhoff	8/1
6	Kentucky Pharoah (KY)	Declan Cannon	122	Jack Sisterson	15/1
7	Tarantino (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	122	Ed Moger, Jr.	12/1
8	Homer Screen (BRZ)	Drayden Van Dyke	122	Neil D. Drysdale	15/1
9	Tripoli (KY)	Tiago Josue Pereira	124	John W. Sadler	4/1
10	Majestic Eagle (KY)	Edwin A. Maldonado	122	Neil D. Drysdale	12/1