Howbeit Ends Bad-Luck Streak in SA Sprint Championship
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Howbeit (outside) just outlasts the late inside rally of CZ Rocket by a nose in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship at Santa Anita Park
After running into nothing but tough luck earlier in the year, Howbeit needed a break in the Oct. 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) and got it—but only by the slimmest of margins.
Howbeit, a 5-year-old by Secret Circle , was making his fourth start of the year in the $200,500, six-furlong sprint, looking to finally reverse his fortunes with a good trip. With Mike Smith taking the ride for trainer Mark Glatt, he finally got just that.
He also got a nice warm pace to chase as Forbidden Kingdom , making his first start since a sixth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), dueled early with longshot Kid Corleone , making his first-ever stakes start. The two 3-year-olds were done by the top of the stretch, just as Smith had Howbeit cooking.
Ranging up outside, Howbeit took a narrow lead only to have C Z Rocket come shooting up the rail with a late challenge. The photo needed close examination to determine that Howbeit held on for the win. Super Ocho and None Above the Law finished third and fourth as Howbeit got home in 1:10.15.
Bred by the University of Kentucky and owned by It Pays to Dream Racing Stable, Saints or Sinners, Danny Haramoto, Sheldon Kawahara, and Gregory Yamamoto, Howbeit won for the seventh time in his 25th start. For the first 10 months of 2022, his owners probably were wondering whether the fates ever would allow that seventh win.
In his first start of the year, the Oak Tree Sprint at Pleasanton, Howbeit went into the starting gate as the odds-on favorite in a field of seven but stumbled at the start, losing jockey Evin Roman. Undeterred, Glatt reached for the stars, putting Howbeit into the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) in July at Del Mar. He raced in tight quarters early, lost position, and finished last.
Given class relief in an allowance optional claimer Aug. 27, he again found trouble, racing widest of all into the turn and finished third, beaten less than one length.
Never give up hope, right?
"You know," Smith said, "Mark was really confident, quietly confident, in this horse. I knew he was up against it just a little, but he's had some unlucky trips.
"He (Glatt) said, 'With a good trip, he's going to give you a good shot at it. See if you can get him in the clear early and give him every chance you can.' And we needed every bit of it because, a jump past the wire, I wasn't too sure I was in front."
"I was just hoping that at the wire I got the nod," Smith later added.
Howbeit's connections enjoy the trophy presentation for the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes
The "nod" actually was barely enough to slip in an index card. But, apparently, it was time Howbeit finally caught a break.
Forbidden Kingdom and Kid Corleone paid the price for the early clockings of 21.58 and 44.18, finishing fifth and last, respectively, in the six-horse field. Todo Fino was a late scratch.
Howbeit is out of the El Corredor mare Emerlaude , who has two winners from three foals to race. Her other foal is a yearling filly by Midshipman .