SANTA ANITA LEADERS

Through Sunday

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 6

Umberto Rispoli / 4

Hector Berrios / 3

Antonio Fresu / 3

Ricardo Gonzalez / 2

Geovanni Franco / 2

Trainers / Wins

Bob Baffert / 4

John Sadler / 4

Phil D’Amato / 4

(17 tied) / 1

UPCOMING STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

$100,000, Grade III Royal Heroine Stakes, fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf

Sunday

$100,000, Grade III Senorita Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, about 6 ½ furlongs on turf

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

$40,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap, quarter horses, 3 and up, 350 yards

DOWN THE STRETCH

Post positions and morning-line odds for the Kentucky Derby field of up to 20 horses — plus two also-eligibles — will be set Saturday in Louisville. Three California-based horses are in: likely favorite Journalism and the Bob Baffert-trained duo of Citizen Bull and Rodriguez. Baffert decided last Friday to switch Madaket Road to the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard. As of Thursday morning, Baeza, second to Journalism in the Santa Anita Derby, needed three horses to drop out to make it into the Run for the Roses.

Smarty Jones, the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, will be one of this year’s seven new members of the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, it was announced Thursday. Smarty Jones was the only candidate chosen by Hall of Fame voters from the “contemporary” category. Also elected were 1950s sprinter Decathlon, early-1900s star Hermis, trainer George Conway (best known for War Admiral), owner-breeder Arthur B. Hancock III (Sunday Silence), 1800s owner and racing promoter Richard Ten Broeck (Lexington) and racing journalist and historian Ed Bowen. Induction ceremonies are Aug. 1 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Nominees this year included California horses Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Kona Gold and Rags to Riches and trainers Doug O’Neill, John Sadler and John Shirreffs.

Tirupati (Umberto Rispoli riding) goes for a second consecutive Grade III victory when the 4-year-old filly trained by Jonathan Thomas heads the crowded Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday. Co-leading trainer Phil D’Amato has 2024 Royal Heroine winner Uncorked (Mike Smith), improving Public Assembly (Antonio Fresu), Sun Of Hill (Tiago Pereira) and Eternal Reign (Reylu Gutierrez). If all 13 entrants run, it will be the largest stakes field at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos or Del Mar – outside of the two days of the Breeders’ Cup — since Artislas beat 12 opponents in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes on Sept. 8.

Quarter horses Beyond Repair and jockey Ruben Lozano and Beuteeful and Jose Nicasio posted the fastest times, 15.681 and 15.771 for 300 yards, in last Saturday’s trials for the May 11 Robert Adair Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos.

Two horses died in training at Santa Anita in the past week, both fatalities attributed to musculoskeletal injuries by the California Horse Racing Board website. The 5-year-old filly Blushing, a two-time winner in France, died April 18, and the 3-year-old colt Ivan the Great, a maiden winner at Del Mar, died April 20. Six horses have died in racing and training at Santa Anita since the season opened Dec. 26, down from eight and seven in the same span the past two years.

— Kevin Modesti