Check out my Saturday (4-25-26) Santa Anita Race 9 analysis below.
SA 9 (G3 Royal Heroine, 8T) – Post Time 8:09 PM ET
Primary – #2 TIRUPATI, #9 Grand Slam Smile
Secondary – #5 May Day Ready, #8 Take a Breath
Horse Comments:
#2 Tirupati (9-2) was 5th of 6 in the G3 Monrovia at 6.5T April 4 and that was her first start in almost a year. She missed by a head in the local G2 Buena Vista at 8T last year, and won the G3 Wilshire as the even money favorite in 2025. Saturday’s rider Kazushi Kimura has booted her home twice and Jonathan Thomas is a profitable 21% in the graded ranks.
#9 Grand Slam Smile (6-5) is a quality CA-bred mare and she always finishes in the top three (19 11-6-2). The 4-time local winner has a nose for the wire and stretches back out, and she handles this distance (4 2-1-1). She owns early-pressing versatility and should be forwardly placed from the outside post under her winning pilot William Antongeorgi.
#5 May Day Ready (9-2) makes her first start in more than half a year and Richard Mandella is her new conditioner. She won two stakes races in 2024 including the G2 Jessamine, and she wired the field in the G2 Lake Placid at 8T last summer. Antonio Fresu hops aboard the versatile filly and she drilled a local half-mile bullet for this March 27.
#8 Take a Breath (4-1) might run out of ground at 8T but she does have a nice closing kick. She won twice at this trip in GB last year but was nowhere in a pair of 8T races in this country. She ran on to miss by a half-length at 9T Jan. 24, and she got up late to win by a nose in the G3 Santa Ana at 10T March 15. Emisael Jaramillo rides her well.
Wagers:
#2 to win
Exacta box 2-9
Trifecta 2-9/2-5-8-9/2-5-8-9
April 2026 Bettor Bet$ Free Pick Winners
April 2 – Charlie’s Curlin ($5.60)
April 3 – Joint Venture ($3.60)
April 4 – Meaning ($3.80)
April 8 – Dresden Row ($6.58), Trifecta ($67.28)
April 11 – West End Kid ($5.72), Exacta ($10.58), Trifecta ($29.28)
April 12 – In Our Time ($12.88)
April 13 – Play the Gray ($8.20)
April 15 – Rothko/Coalmoon Exacta ($42.26)
April 16 – Chapman’s Peak/Concord Green/Carcano Trifecta ($232.24)
April 21 – Black Rose/Quality View Exacta ($41.80)
April 22 – Evanescence/Beyond Belief Exacta ($11.32), Trifecta ($19.12)
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