Kentuckian Back to Stakes Company in Los Angeles

It was a long time between wins for Fox Hill Farm's Kentuckian, but a determined effort by his connections to return him to form came through Feb. 20, when the 5-year-old gray edged Texas Two Step by a neck in a conditional allowance race at Santa Anita Park

 

Two years ago, the son of Tiznow   was a late-blooming but promising 3-year-old. He broke his maiden by 11 lengths in his debut at Golden Gate Fields, had a troubled trip and finished third in his stakes debut in the San Pedro, then romped home in the Lazaro Barrera Stakes (G3), but that was the end of his winning ways for a while.

BALAN: Kentuckian Romps in Lazaro Barrera Victory

The Jerry Hollendorfer trainee ran a far-back third in his final 2015 start, the Los Alamitos Derby (G2), before hind-leg issues put him on the sideline for nearly a year. Back to racing in 2016, Kentuckian went winless in three allowance starts, but broke through in his first try of 2017 to show promise once again.

Now Kentuckian will complete his long road back to stakes competition April 15 in Santa Anita's $100,000 Los Angeles Stakes (G3).

The rest of the five-horse field for the six-furlong sprint is a grab bag. There are no other graded stakes winners in the field, but the Los Angeles does feature two last-out victors at significantly different stages in their careers.

The first is Hollendorfer stablemate Ike Walker, who the Hall of Fame trainer claimed for $50,000 in January. In his two starts since the claim, the Bellamy Road   gelding picked up a graded placing with a third in the six-furlong Palos Verdes (G2), then won an allowance at a mile in March.

The second is Baoma Corp.'s Lord Simba, a 4-year-old Discreet Cat colt trained by Bob Baffert who broke his maiden last time out by eight lengths after finishing second in his first three tries.

Completing the field is recent California-bred stakes runner-up Grazen Sky, who has finished second in both the Nov. 20 Cary Grant and the Feb. 26 Tiznow, and 7-year-old Eastwood, a three-time allowance winner from the East who will make his first start since 2015 and first for trainer Richard Mandella.

Los Angeles S. (G3)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, April 15, 2017, Race 4

• 6f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 2:32 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Kentuckian (KY)	Stewart Elliott	122	Jerry Hollendorfer	5/2
2	2Grazen Sky (CA)	Edwin A. Maldonado	122	Steven Miyadi	4/1
3	3Ike Walker (KY)	Santiago Gonzalez	122	Jerry Hollendorfer	5/1
4	4Lord Simba (KY)	Martin Garcia	122	Bob Baffert	5/2
5	5Eastwood (KY)	Norberto Arroyo, Jr.	122	Richard E. Mandella	2/1