St Trinians tries boys in Saturday's Big 'Cap

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/03/2010 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 73rd running of the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap (Big 'Cap) at Santa Anita Park has attracted 13 males and one female. The 14 thoroughbreds will be asked to run 1 1/4-miles Saturday on Santa Anita's synthetic track.

The lone female in the field is Santa Maria Handicap winner St Trinians. The five-year-old mare would become the first female to win the Big 'Cap which was first run in 1935. In 2004, four-year-old filly Island Fashion was second behind Southern Image.

Trained by Mike Mitchell, St Trinians will start from post two with Joel Rosario again riding. The mare is undefeated in four starts since coming to the United States from England.

"It's kind of a plus, I think," Mitchell said about the failure of 41 females in their attempts to win the Big 'Cap. "We know they can do it, and she gets a little better break in the weights than if I ran against Zenyatta a week later. If there is a question, it's if she can go a mile and a quarter, and I think she can, the way she finished winning the Santa Maria."

Owned by Dan Capen and Laura Chavers, St Trinians has won seven of 11 career starts for $268,587. She won the Paseana Handicap in January at Santa Anita, where she is perfect in three tries.

"When she won going 7 -furlongs at Hollywood off a layoff (last December 3)," Mitchell continued, "she was on the lead most of the way, and that kind of surprised me. Nobody really wanted to take the lead, and she was fresh, but now, you can kind of do whatever you want with her, depending on who goes in this race. With a full field, it looks like there's a fair amount of speed."

Turf specialist Loup Breton will attempt a synthetic surface for the first time on Saturday. With jockey Garrett Gomez in the saddle, the six-year-old will break from post six for trainer Julio Canani.

"This horse probably can make the conversion," Gomez said, "because he works well on synthetic all the time, although working on it and running on it are two different things. But his style is good for this distance and he's a really nice horse."

Owned by Guy Wildenstein, Loup Breton has raced exclusively on grass in his 21 lifetime starts and has earnings of $677,614 with five wins. In January he won the San Marcos Handicap at 1 1/4-miles and in December was second to Proudinsky in the San Gabriel Handicap.

"Anabaa is the leading synthetic sire in Europe," Canani said about Loup Breton's sire. "He sired Anabaa's Creation, who was second by a head to Zenyatta in the Clement Hirsch (in August, 2008 at Del Mar), so we're taking a shot."

Here is the full field for the Big 'Cap in post position order: Pick Six, Alex Solis; St Trinians, Joel Rosario; Rendezvous, Joe Talamo; Neko Bay, Mike Smith; Eagle Poise, Tyler Baze; Loup Breton, Garrett Gomez; Mast Track, David Flores; Pool Play, Chantal Sutherland; Marsh Side, Martin Pedroza; Tiger's Rock, David Cohen; Dakota Phone, Victor Espinoza; Delightful Kiss, Juan Leyva; Misremembered, Martin Garcia and Jeranimo, Rafael Bejarano.

Also on the Saturday card is the rescheduled Sham Stakes with 10 three-year- olds entered. The 1 1/8-mile race is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3.

The Santa Anita Handicap has a scheduled post-time of 7:38 p.m. (et) and the Sham is set to go off at 6:07 p.m. (et).

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.