BY STEVE KOCH
Florida-bred Nesso’s Lastharrah carries the state’s banner into Saturday’s $100,000 Daytona Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park. A field of 12 plus an also-eligible tackles the about six-and-one-half furlongs test for three-year-olds and upward. The race is run over the track’s signature downhill turf course.
Bred by Amaty Racing Stables, the five-year-old horse for trainer Jeff Bonde has won six of 18 lifetime and arrives off a determined victory in an $80,000 optional claimer on Apr 3. He closed from just off the pace that day, bidding two-wide and digging in to win by three-quarters of a length. The 10-1 chance has won five of his 12 career turf starts. Emisael Jaramillo rides.
He’ll need his best to handle First Peace, the 7-2 morning-line favorite. The Kentucky-bred six-year-old for trainer Mark Glatt has banked nearly $780,000 and is proven over the hill, a winner of the 2024 Eddie D. Stakes (G2) down this strip. His form has since tailed off, though, with no wins and no placings in just two starts last year. He returns from an eight-and-one-half-month layoff, with Kazushi Kimura back aboard.
Sumter, the 5-1 chance, is the other to fear. The Kentucky-bred gelding for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has earned nearly $590,000 and owns a useful Santa Anita turf record of five wins from 17 starts. He has handled the hillside, taking the San Simeon Stakes (G3) over the downhill course on Mar 14 by a nose. He most recently checked in fifth in the American Stakes (G3). Mike Smith retains the mount.
The rest will look to upset. Later Than Planned (Ire), the lone three-year-old in the field at 6-1, won the John Shear Stakes on the hillside course in Apr for Philip D’Amato and draws in light at 118 pounds; Hector Berrios rides. Zio Jo, also 6-1, is a well-traveled veteran for Doug O’Neill who has campaigned at both the mile and in turf sprints; Joel Rosario rides. Freedom’s Not Free, 9-2, returns to sprinting for Glatt under Juan Hernandez. Anmer Hall (8-1, Antonio Fresu) has finished second in both 2026 starts for Peter Eurton.
Completing the field: Armando Ayuso has Friendly Confines (20/1); Kyle Frey rides Irish Royalty (15/1), the lone California-bred; Armando Aguilar is up on dirt sprinter Modus Bestia (30/1), who has tried turf just once; Ricardo Gonzalez guides War At Sea (30/1); Tiago Pereira partners Incanto (Ire) (20/1); and Edwin Maldonado is named on also-eligible The Old Nine (Ire) (15/1).
Post time is 4:35 p.m. PT.
Return to the June 12 issue of Wire to Wire
