ELLIS TRAINEE RAMBLES 6 ½ FURLONGS IN 1:13.74
(Benoit Photo)
ARCADIA, Calif. (July 8, 2016)—In a breathtaking performance, heavily favored Masochistic took Friday’s $65,000 Santa Anita allowance feature by 6 ¼ lengths under Mike Smith while covering 6 ½ furlongs geared down in 1:13.74.
Breaking from post position four in a field of five older horses, Masochistic, who is conditioned by Ron Ellis and had been idle since well beaten in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, fairly glided through fractions of 21.53, 43.61 and 1:07.42.
“That’s just not normal,” said Smith as he acknowledged the ease with which the 6-year-old California-bred gelding by Sought After had just completed his assignment. “Ron’s done a tremendous job bringing him back. From the first time I got on him after the Breeders’ Cup until today…He was taking baby steps in his training and after his last work, Ron said ‘I’m running him.’ And that was the right move, as you saw.”
A winner of the Grade I, seven furlong Triple Bend Stakes four starts back here roughly a year ago, Masochistic was off at 3-5 and paid $3.40, $2.80 and $2.10.
Owned by Will Shamlian’s Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable, Masochistic collected his seventh win from 12 starts and with the winner’s share of $50,700 (which includes a California-Bred Owner Fund bonus of $11,700), he increased his career earnings to $652,550.
“Visually, I would have never thought he was going that fast,” said Ellis, who succeeded A.C. Avila as the horse’s trainer five starts back, in the spring of 2015. “That was pretty amazing, really…We’ll skip the Bing Crosby (Grade I, six furlongs on July 31) and play it by ear.”
(Ellis indicated the Grade II, seven furlong Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 27 was a more likely destination).
Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Heir of Storm finished second by 4 ½ lengths at 7-1 and paid $3.60 and $2.80.
Indexical, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, was off at 10-1 and paid $2.80 to show.
First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday at Santa Anita is at 1:30 p.m. Admission gates open at 11:30 a.m.