Santa Anita Spot Plays for Saturday, June 13

A pair of graded stakes races will highlight the penultimate day of the meeting at Santa Anita on Saturday at The Great Race Place. 

Race 8 – Daytona (G3)

A full field of talented runners will run 6 1/2 furlongs down the Hillside Turf Course in an uber-competitive contest. #11 Freedom’s Not Free (9-2), one of two in the field for Mark Glatt, had a smart sophomore season when winning or placing in all seven runs, with six coming against stakes foes. The four-year-old son of Omaha Beach is three-for-four on the Santa Anita lawn with a third, and the $300,000 purchase ran a nice one in his lone run going down the hill, as well. The Kentucky-bred colt landed in a tough spot for his 2026 debut, but he has trained steadily in advance of the heat, and I expect him to be a major presence with Juan Hernandez taking the reins. 

#12 Sumter (5-1) is another with a lot of intrigue in the group for Richard Mandella. The hard-knocking son of War Front is a Grade 3 winner at the distance and comes in fresh with a cutback in distance today. The gelded seven-year-old has been first or second in his last trio of attempts at this unique distance and looms large with his best under Mike Smith. 

Race 11 – Summertime Oaks (G3)

Sophomore fillies will go 1 1/16 miles on the dirt in the second black-type tilt of the afternoon. I’m very interested in #7 Marjoram (3-1) on the outside post for conditioner Michael McCarthy. The Juddmonte homebred graduated on the dirt at Churchill in her unveiling in November and has run on the grass in two subsequent tries, led by a late-running victory in the Senorita (G3) on the sod most recently. The daughter of Quality Road is bred to go a route of ground, and she has excellent dirt performers in her pedigree, so the move back to the main oval should not pose a problem for the filly. Jaramillo will be in the silks and bring the fine prospect from off the pace in a field with some speed signed on.