San Simeon

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

A compact field of six evenly-matched sprinters will go postward to contest
the $100,000 San Simeon H. (G3) on closing day at Santa Anita on Monday. The
lightly raced LAZZERI (Grand Slam) lacks the credentials of some of these, but
we envision the sharp colt leading from gate-to-wire for trainer David Hofmans
and jockey Garret Gomez in this about 6 1/2-furlong turf fray. The chestnut’s dam is a
full-sister to Grade 1 winner and leading Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Consolidator
(Storm Cat), and we feel the four-year-old will continue the stakes-winning
tradition of this family with a top showing in this one. Three nice works in
advance of this add to the appeal.

GERONIMO (Chi) (Gold Tribute) has enjoyed the most success of anyone over the
downhill turf course, evidenced by his 10-2-4-1 local mark. The John Sadler
trainee was a fast- closing second last out in a top allowance race in which
three of these attended, and he has every right to improve second off
the claim. Corey Nakatani will pilot the six-year-old.

ROYAL PRICE (Ger) (Oxalagu) will be making his third start of 2005 and likely
has plenty of room for improvement in him. The five-year-old shows most of his wins
wins at a mile on the lawn, but once he figures out the sprinting game, he could
be one to reckon with down the road. The human connections can’t be faulted
either, as Patrick Valenzuela will ride for Bobby Frankel. Look for the bay to
be flying late.

GOLDEN ARROW (Rahy) is a win candidate here for trainer Neil Drysdale. The dark bay has run against some very difficult competition in his
last trio of outings, and has been in contention each time. The six-year-old
owns two wins over this course, and will be piloted once again by Victor
Espinoza. His best finds him right there at the finish.

SHADOW OF ILLINOIS (Illinois Storm) looked super in strolling home an easy
winner over a strong allowance field last try for conditioner Anthony Saavedra. The gelding
has shown an affinity for hanging for the big money in the past, so we’ll
restrict his use to the bottom of exotics.

MCCANN’S MOJAVE (Memo [Chi]) is the lone graded stakes winner of the bunch,
and won his only start on the green, but the five-year-old doesn’t seem to be in
the good form he displayed in 2004. A turnaround gives this bay a huge shot, but
we’ll let him beat us at this point.