ARCADIA — In case his previous four wins this year weren’t persuasive enough, Johannes strengthened his case for the North American male turf championship by winning the San Gabriel Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita on Thursday.
“In my heart, he is a true champion,” trainer Tim Yakteen said. “I hope others view it that way.”
Four-year-old Johannes, owned by Joe and Debby McCloskey of Solana Beach, paid $2.60 after teaming with jockey Umberto Rispoli to beat Mi Hermano Ramon by three-quarters of a length and Seal Team by 1½ in the 1⅛-mile San Gabriel.
That kept Johannes unbeaten in seven starts on the Santa Anita turf (he’s 1 for 6 elsewhere), and was his fourth win at Grade II or Grade I.
His one blemish this year was a second-place finish, three-quarters of a length behind More Than Looks, in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
The Eclipse Awards for division champions are voted by racing journalists and executives. More Than Looks’ Breeders’ Cup Mile win makes him a contender, as does Rebel’s Romance’s Breeders’ Cup Turf win. But some horses have deeper resumes in North America, including Carl Spackler, Far Bridge and Johannes.
PRAT’S RECORDS
Flavien Prat’s front-running victory with King of Gosford ($3.40) in the $200,000, Grade II Mathis Mile on turf was the jockey’s 56th graded stakes win of the year, breaking the national record of 55 set by Jerry Bailey in 2003.
It was Prat’s 81st stakes win of any kind this year, extending a record the 32-year-old Frenchman set in New York earlier this month.
GRADE I GLORY
There were two Grade I stakes on opening day in addition to the Malibu Stakes won by Raging Torrent.
• Trainer Richard Mandella had to scratch Tamara from the $300,000, Grade I La Brea Stakes after the 3-year-old filly showed a 102-degree temperature Thursday morning, but he wound up winning the race with long shot Kopion ($77.40) and jockey Kazushi Kimura.
“I was shocked that she was 35-1,” Mandella said of Kopion, a Grade III winner returning from eight months off.
• No victory was more impressive than the one by She Feels Pretty ($3.20), who had trouble early in the $300,000, Grade I American Oaks on grass but pulled away to a 2½-length win with jockey John Velazquez.
FINISH LINES
• J B Strikes Back ($34.80), winner of the $200,000, Grade II Laffit PIncay Stakes (formerly the San Antonio) with jockey Antonio Fresu, is owned by Janie Buss, one of the children of the late Lakers owner Jerry Buss.
• Jockey Hector Berrios missed five scheduled mounts Friday, but is expected to be in action Saturday, after what agent Michael Burns called a “glitch” involving Berrios’ passport in Chile.
