Sejo Set for U.S. Debut in San Marcos

Sejo's entry in the $200,000 San Marcos Stakes (G2T) Feb. 9 isn't the type of move John Sadler usually makes.

Sadler would have liked the 4-year-old Nathaniel colt, who was privately purchased by Hronis Racing after six races in France, to get his footing in Southern California in an allowance, but this type of race doesn't come up in allowance conditions very often.

"He wants to run all day," Sadler said of Sejo, who will kick off his U.S. career in the 1 1/4-mile San Marcos on the Santa Anita Park grass. "I don't know if he's going to need (a race) or not, but none of those (allowance) races are long enough, so he's going to go in here. He's a pretty nice horse and the races are pretty good over there, so he's ready to go."

Sejo went winless in his first four starts in France—the first two on synthetic and the second two on soft turf—but won his final two starts for trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias on turf labeled "firm" at Longchamp in May and July.

"It's harder than ever to buy horses privately, but I have people looking for me all over," Sadler said. "This horse came across my desk, I liked him, we vetted him, we did our due diligence, and we bought him. It wasn't that exotic. But I'm anxious to get him going."

Sejo will have to be pretty good in the San Marcos, arguably the most compelling race of the weekend. Thirteen are entered—including Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes (G2T) winner Chicago Style, three-time graded stakes winner Flamboyant, Cougar II Handicap (G3) victor Beach View, and Red Carpet Handicap (G3T) winner India Mantuana (the only mare in the field)—but the main curiosities in the field are the Bob Baffert-trained pair of Dabster and Roman Rosso.

Although it's not that rare for Baffert to run on the grass, running two in a graded stakes is an aberration. Neither has yet to run on the turf from a combined 22 starts, and the Hall of Fame trainer indicated the reason for the entries had more to do with the distance than the surface.

Roman Rosso won three group 1 races in South America—at distances of 1 3/8 miles, 1 9/16 miles, and 1 1/4 miles—before he was transferred to Baffert in 2018. Since then, he has finished far back in two starts, the $1 Million TVG Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) and the Comma to the Top Stakes.

Dabster ran perhaps the best race of his career in the 1 3/4-mile Marathon Stakes Presented by TAA (G2) at Churchill Downs in November, when he finished second to Rocketry by three-quarters of a length, and he won the Los Alamitos Special Stakes at 1 1/4 miles in September.

"Roman Rosso really needs to go a mile and a half, and Dabster—I didn't want to run him in that last one," Baffert said of Dabster's scratch out of the sloppy San Pasqual Stakes (G2) Feb. 2. "We'll kill two birds with one stone (for Dabster)—get the distance and see if he likes grass. We know he'll go a mile and a quarter. Will he like the grass? We'll find out."

Entries: San Marcos S. (G2T)

Santa Anita Park, Saturday, February 09, 2019, Race 9

• Grade IIT
• 1 1/4m
• Turf
• $200,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 3:42 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Unapologetic (KY)	Geovanni Franco	120	William Spawr	10/1
2	2Roman Rosso (ARG)	Evin A. Roman	120	Bob Baffert	12/1
3	3Chicago Style (KY)	Drayden Van Dyke	124	Thomas F. Proctor	3/1
4	4Epical (KY)	Tyler Baze	120	James M. Cassidy	7/2
5	5Platinum Warrior (IRE)	Shane Foley	122	John W. Sadler	12/1
6	6Sejo (IRE)	Flavien Prat	120	John W. Sadler	12/1
7	7Dabster (KY)	Joseph Talamo	120	Bob Baffert	5/1
8	8Beach View (MD)	Rafael Bejarano	122	Leonard Powell	5/1
9	9Lucky Soul (KY)	Heriberto Figueroa	120	Michael W. McCarthy	30/1
10	10Flamboyant (FR)	Brice Blanc	120	Patrick Gallagher	12/1
11	11India Mantuana (KY)	Joel Rosario	117	Thomas Ray Bell, II	20/1
12	12Ya Gotta Wanna (KY)	Aaron T. Gryder	120	Philip D'Amato	12/1
13	13Prince of Arabia (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	120	James M. Cassidy	30/1