Four San Luis Rey horses win stakes races on opening weekend of Santa Anita fall meet

Four horses stabled at the San Luis Rey Training Center, when they are not at the track where the meet is being held, won stakes races on the opening weekend of the Santa Anita Park fall meet.

The meet was originally scheduled to begin Sept. 19, but smoke from the Bobcat Fire postponed Opening Day to Sept. 25. The Sept. 25 races included the Grade 3 Chillingworth Stakes won by Into Chocolate. On Sept. 26, Bulletproof One was the winner of the Unzip Me Stakes and Get Her Number finished first in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes. C Z Rocket obtained a Sept. 27 victory in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes.

Into Chocolate is trained by Clifford Sise and owned by Martin and Pam Wygod. Umberto Rispoli was the 4-year-old filly's jockey in the Chillingworth Stakes. The race for fillies and mares 3 years old and upward was 6 1/2 furlongs on Santa Anita's dirt track.

Qahira broke first and led the race until being overtaken by Into Chocolate in the stretch. Into Chocolate broke second before Rispoli and Into Chocolate dropped back to obtain a better position. After a quarter of a mile Into Chocolate was in third, with Amuse in second place.

The first three horses battled in the stretch with Into Chocolate finishing 3/4 of a length in front of Qahira and Amuse taking third place.The winning time for Into Chocolate was 1:15.86. First place paid $60,000 of the $100,000 total purse, which brought Into Chocolate's career earnings to $216,031.

The Chillingworth Stakes victory gave Into Chocolate four wins in 11 career starts. Prior to the Chillingworth Stakes the previous win for Into Chocolate was July 12 at Belmont Park, which is in the Long Island town of Elmont. Her previous California win was at Santa Anita Dec. 29, 2019.

Into Chocolate was foaled in Kentucky March 27, 2016. She was sired by Into Mischief out of Candy Drawer.

San Luis Rey fillies took the top two positions in the Unzip Me Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Bulletproof One, whose trainer is Peter Miller, won by 2 1/4 lengths over Aqua Seaform Shame, who is trained by Richard Baltas.

The Unzip Me Stakes was a 5 1/2-furlong turf race. Bulletproof One was ridden by Ricardo Gonzalez, and Aqua Seaform Shame's jockey was Flavien Prat.

Bulletproof One broke first among the eight horses and led throughout the race. Powerfulattraction broke second. Blue Sky Baby, who trained at San Luis Rey as a 2-year-old last year, was the third horse out of the gate. Aqua Seaform Shame broke fourth.

Bulletproof One entered the stretch 55.12 seconds after the start of the race with a 2 1/2-length lead over Biddy Duke while Blue Sky Baby was a head in front of Aqua Seaform Shame.

Aqua Seaform Shame gained two positions in the stretch and finished half a length ahead of Biddy Duke, who edged Mind Out for third place by a neck. Blue Sky Baby finished fifth.

Bulletproof One was given the track record for her winning time of 1:01.12. The $99,000 total purse, including bonus incentives for California-bred horses, provided $60,900 for first place contingent upon the winner being foaled in California. Bulletproof One was foaled in California Feb. 9, 2017. She was sired by Idiot Proof, who was bred by the Wygods, out of Onefunsonofagun.

The victory gave Bulletproof One career earnings of $361,162 and was her seventh win in 14 career starts. The stakes win was the third for her but her first in 2020.

Prat rode Get Her Number in the American Pharoah Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race for 2-year-olds. Prat and Get Her Number broke second with Dyn O Mite and jockey Victor Espinoza breaking first.

Dyn O Mite was in the lead half a mile into the race with Get Her Number behind by half a length but leading Spielberg by a length.

Get Her Number took the lead over the next two furlongs, and with three-quarters of a mile elapsed Get Her Number led Dyn O Mite by half a length with Waspirant in third place, and Spielberg in fourth.

Rombauer had moved up from fifth to second by the beginning of the stretch but trailed Get Her Number by 1 1/2 lengths. Get Her Number entered the stretch 1:37.97 after the race began.

Get Her Number had a winning time of 1:44.92. He beat Rombauer by three-quarters of a length while Rombauer had a 4 3/4-length margin over third-place Spielberg.

Including starter bonuses the total value of the race was $301,000. Get Her Number earned $180,000 of that, and his career earnings are now $219,000. The American Pharoah Stakes was the third career race for Get Her Number, who won in his debut Aug. 14 at Del Mar.

Get Her Number was foaled in Kentucky April 14, 2018. The colt was sired by Dialed In out of Fancier.

The Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes is for 3-year-olds and upward and was six furlongs on the dirt. Luis Saez was the jockey for C Z Rocket.

C Z Rocket and Saez broke first. During the first quarter of a mile Flagstaff took the lead. After a quarter of a mile, C Z Rocket trailed Flagstaff by half a length but was half a length in front of third-place Collusion Illusion. Those were also the positions and margins for the top three horses at the end of the first half-mile.

C Z Rocket finished a head in front of Flagstaff, who crossed the finish line 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Collusion Illusion. The winning time was 1:09.14.

The total purse for the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes was $200,000. C Z Rocket earned $120,000 of that to bring the gelding's career winnings to $551,691. The race was the 22nd of his career and his ninth victory.

Miller has trained C Z Rocket for the horse's past five races, all of which have been victories. C Z Rocket joined Miller's barn after being claimed in an April 30 race at the Oaklawn Park track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The previous race for C Z Rocket was Aug. 29, when he won the Grade 2 Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar.

C Z Rocket was foaled in Florida Feb. 24, 2014. He was sired by City Zip out of Successful Sarah.