ARCADIA — Richard Mandella took satisfaction in an overdue stakes victory for Coffee in Bed at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Phil D’Amato saw his horses absorb the upset in that race and didn’t have a winner Saturday or Sunday, but might have had the best weekend of any trainer on the grounds because of what his Kentucky Derby colt did.
Coffee in Bed, racing for the Hall of Fame trainer-jockey combination of Mandella and Mike Smith, bounced back from a poor effort last time out to win the $200,000, Grade II Santa Maria Stakes by a neck over D’Amato-trained Super Shine, while D’Amato’s favored Desert Dawn ran third and Turnerloose fifth in the field of seven.
“(I was) unable to train her the way she needs to be trained because of the weather,” Mandella said, explaining Coffee in Bed’s sixth-place finish, 16 lengths behind Sweet Azteca, in last month’s Beholder Mile.
The 4-year-old daughter of Curlin and Sumptuous won her first stakes and third race overall in nine starts for Spendthrift Farm, and paid $10.40 after covering 1 1/16 miles in a slow 1:45.16.
D’Amato thought 7-2 Super Shine and 3-5 favorite Desert Dawn ran well. Super Shine didn’t change leads in the stretch in the Argentine import’s first U.S. start.
The loss didn’t dampen D’Amato’s enthusiasm for his bigger project right now.
Stronghold, his Santa Anita Derby winner and first Kentucky Derby qualifier, worked out Saturday morning and went 4 furlongs in 46 3/5 seconds, the colt’s fastest drill of 2024 and the co-fastest of the morning on the Santa Anita main track. Under jockey Antonio Fresu, Stronghold passed stablemate Shady Tiger in the stretch. D’Amato said the colt was doing well Sunday.
“Came out of the (workout) in good shape,” the trainer said.
D’Amato said he and Stronghold will go to Louisville on Tuesday, and the colt by Ghostzapper will get a feel for the Churchill Downs track with a jog Wednesday and gallop Thursday before having a full-on workout Saturday or Sunday.
The Kentucky Derby is Saturday, May 4.
Earlier Sunday, Johnny Podres added “stakes winner” to the “World Series MVP” on the list of achievements next to that name.
The 7-year-old namesake of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1955 hero scored a $35.80 upset in the $100,000 Siren Lure Stakes with jockey Geovanni Franco for trainer Librado Barocio. It was Johnny Podres’ first stakes win in 37 career starts going back to his debut for trainer Steve Miyadi at Golden Gate Fields in 2019.
Rolling past favored First Peace and Lane Way, the gelding kept upsets coming in Santa Anita stakes. After favorites dominated Santa Anita in the season’s early months, they’ve been beaten in nine of the past 11 races at the stakes level.