After rainouts Wednesday and Thursday, Santa Anita plans to resume thoroughbred racing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and has added a program Thursday, Jan. 8. Saturday’s Santa Ynez Stakes, a sprint for 3-year-old fillies, features the return of Explora (Juan Hernandez riding) after the Bob Baffert-trained daughter of Blame ran second to Super Corredora as a 3-2 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Next Thursday will include the rescheduled Robert J. Frankel Stakes and Eddie Logan Stakes.
• Irad Ortiz Jr. held on to win the national jockeys’ earnings title by $1,669 when Flavien Prat, needing to finish third or better in his last ride of 2025 to catch Ortiz, missed by a head and finished fourth at Aqueduct on Wednesday. Ortiz set a new record with $40,497,847 in purses (jockeys get a fraction of that).
• Antonio Fresu’s broken toe, which is sidelining him indefinitely, leaves a void in the Santa Anita jockey standings. The 34-year-old Italian’s 135 wins at the Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets were second to Hernandez’s 176 in the year that began Dec. 26, 2024. Fresu was hurt when Amner Hall was crowded into the rail during a race last Sunday. That happened an hour after Fresu won the Grade II Mathis Mile with Hiding in Honduras ($21.40).
• Jockey Emisael Jaramillo is riding at Santa Anita for the first time, with agent Tom Knust booking mounts. Jaramillo, 48, based mostly in Florida since coming from Venezuela a decade ago, was 26th in North America with 154 wins (19%) in 2025.
• Barnes, scratched from the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on opening day, strained a tendon and has been retired to stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms, the Paris, Ky., farm announced.
• Saturday’s Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park and Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct are the first qualifying races of 2026 for the May 2 Kentucky Derby, awarding 10 points to the winners. Brad Cox-trained Rancho Santa Fe (Florent Geroux) is a 5-2 favorite to win his stakes debut against Ken McPeek-trained two-time stakes runnerup Universe (Joel Rosario) and seven others in the Smarty Jones. Former Bob Baffert trainee Balboa (Manny Franco), now with Brittany Russell, is prominent in the five-horse Jerome.
NATIONAL LEADERS
2025 totals
Jockeys / Purses
Irad Ortiz Jr. / $40,497,847
Flavien Prat / $40,496,178
Jose Ortiz / $33,994,860
Luis Saez / $27,473,226
John Velazquez / $21,284,926
Tyler Gafflione / $20,503,817
Manny Franco / $19,544,623
Junior Alvarado / $18,318,159
Kendrick Carmouche / $14,619,426
Joel Rosario / $14,528,953
Trainers / Purses
Brad Cox / $30,255,435
Steve Asmussen / $24,939,805
Chad Brown / $24,487,934
Mark Casse / $23,216,251
Todd Pletcher / $19,187,793
Bill Mott / $17,165,020
Saffie Joseph Jr. / $17,032,668
Mike Maker / $16,768,187
Brendan Walsh / $15,611,634
Bob Baffert / $14,366,800
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $100,000 Santa Ynez Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 7 furlongs
Sunday
• $100,000, Grade III Las Flores Stakes, fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, 6 furlongsThursday, Jan. 8
• $100,000, Grade III Robert J. Frankel Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1/18 miles on turf
• $100,000 Eddie Logan Stakes, 2-year-olds, 7 furlongs
LOS ALAMITOS
Sunday
• $100,000, Grade I Charger Bar Handicap, fillies and mares, 4 and up, 400 yards
• $20,000 Dashingly Handicap, fillies and mares, 4 and up, 350 yards