Heat Could Have Impact on Santa Anita Opener

When the earliest training session at Santa Anita Park Sept. 26 resembled a Southern California freeway during rush hour, it was a pretty good indication of how local trainers felt about the ongoing heat wave in the region.

A private clocker in the grandstand even joked: "(Trainer John) Sadler is apparently running his entire barn in one session."

The reasoning is clear and understandable. With temperatures expected to touch 95 degrees Saturday at the Arcadia, Calif., track, the earlier horses get out, the better. But as far as the afternoon racing is concerned, on a day that will feature five grade I stakes, the trainers of some of the top runners are cautious but confident.

"It's a little concerning, but I've run in these preps for years and it's often 100 degrees," said Hall of Fame conditioner Richard Mandella, who will saddle Beholder in the Zenyatta Stakes (gr. I). "I've never had too much we can blame on the heat, and it has actually been pretty successful for me. But I wish I could make it 80 degrees."

As of Saturday morning, Mandella said Beholder will be ready to go for the Zenyatta, which is scheduled to go off as the seventh contest on the 11-race card.

"Just like me or you, if you work in 100-degree weather, it takes a little more out of you, but she's ready to go," Mandella said. "If I don't run her, I'm going to need some big workouts (before the Breeders' Cup). So I think the way it's set up, I'm going to run her. If I got too creative, and said, 'No, I'm not going to run because it's too hot,' surely something else worse would happen."

The heat hasn't fazed trainer Doug O'Neill, who has a starter in four of the grade I events, most notably undefeated grade I winner Nyquist, who is the 6-5 morning line favorite in the FrontRunner Stakes (gr. I).

"They're all well-hydrated," O'Neill said. "(Santa Anita) will probably call an audible and shorten the post parades up, but horses are pretty resilient in extreme cold and extreme hot."

Many trainers explained that the impact of the heat isn't truly felt until after the races, when they see how much the temperatures take out of their horses.

"If you had a choice, you'd take cooler, but we hydrate them pretty good," said Sadler, who has four runners in for Saturday, including grade I winner Hard Aces in the Awesome Again Stakes (gr. I). "We have a program where we put fluids in them at 48 hours (before racing). It's less than ideal, though. It's more about how they come out of it."