Five Set for San Vicente Stakes

Five maiden winners will look to break through for their first graded score Feb. 12 in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park.

The race featured eventual classic winners Nyquist   and Exaggerator   in 2016, and while the 2017 field lacks the proven talent those two provided at the time, there appears to be ample upside.

Four of the five 3-year-olds entered for the seven-furlong test are last-out maiden special weight winners and two—Fox Hill Farms' Battle of Midway and Zayat Stables' Aquamarine—won in their debut.

Battle of Midway, a Smart Strike colt trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, won his six-furlong debut Jan. 21 at Santa Anita by 3 1/4 lengths, while Aquamarine, a Gemologist   colt trained by Bob Baffert, took a 5 1/2-furlong try by 1 3/4 lengths. Both wins were over a wet main track.

Kaleem Shah's Iliad won his last start Dec. 18 at Los Alamitos Race Course by 3 1/2 lengths. The Ghostzapper   colt is now under the care of trainer Doug O'Neill, who took over when Shah and Baffert parted ways on New Year's Eve.

O'Neill also entered Reddam Racing's Blabimir, who is the only one with stakes experience, but that came in the Jan. 7 Sham (G3), when the Tapizar   colt was eased. He graduated in his start immediately before the Sham, at 5 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos.

The final last-out winner in the group is Law Abidin Citizen—owned by Dan Agnew, Gerry Schneider, and John Xitco—a Twirling Candy   colt trained by Mark Glatt who won his fifth try at maiden special weights by 5 1/4 lengths Jan. 29 at Santa Anita.