North County Guy wins Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes

The Jan. 16 stakes races at Santa Anita Park included one won by San Luis Rey Training Center gelding North County Guy and one named after former San Luis Rey general manager and long-time Fallbrook resident Leigh Ann Howard.

North County Guy won the 1 1/8-mile Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes for California-bred horses 4 years old and upwards. What had been the California Cup Oaks prior to this year became the Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks, and Closing Remarks (who does not train at San Luis Rey) won that one-mile turf race for California-bred 3-year-old fillies.

The Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes is part of the Golden State Series. The initial nomination period for eligibility in that series closed Jan. 7, and North County Guy was not nominated during that period. "We actually had to supplement him," said trainer Richard Baltas.

Owners Nancy Messineo and Bruce Sands were willing to pay the $25,000 supplemental nomination fee. "It cost us $25,000 to get him into the race, but we knew he had a good chance," Baltas said. "It worked out, so we're very, very happy with what happened."

The 2021 Golden State Series schedule includes nine additional races in which male horses at least 4 years old are eligible. North County Guy has been running on turf courses, and five of those nine races are on turf including three with a distance of at least one mile.

Messineo and Sands recovered their $25,000 in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes. The total purse of that race was $201,500 and first place paid $110,000.

North County Guy was ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who was also the horse's jockey for the gelding's three previous races. Baltas and Gutierrez addressed how to handle the "speed," which refers to horses with fast starts who win if they build up enough of a lead to hold off the horses who excel at closing. "We went over it together," Baltas said.

Cono was the speed in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes, breaking first out of the gate among the 11 entries and leading for the first three-quarters of a mile. North County Guy and Mario Gutierrez broke fifth.

The first quarter of a mile took Cono 22.34 seconds, and he led second-place Acclimate by six lengths. North County Guy was in fifth and trailed Cono by 8 1/2 lengths and fourth-place Margot's Boy by a length while leading sixth-place Heck Yeah by two lengths.

The order of the first six horses was unchanged when Cono completed the first half-mile 44.76 seconds after the start of the race, and at that point he led Acclimate by 10 lengths and North County Guy by 15 1/2 lengths. North County Guy was 2 1/2 lengths behind Margot's Boy and 1 1/2 lengths in front of Heck Yeah.

Gutierrez made up some of that margin during the next two furlongs. "He adapted really well," Baltas said. "He ran a great race."

With 1:08.18 elapsed, Cono reached the pole three-quarters of a mile past the starting gate. The order of the first six horses remained the same, and Cono led Acclimate by six lengths and North County Guy by 9 1/2 lengths. North County Guy trailed Margot's Boy by 1 1/2 lengths and led Heck Yeah by 1 1/2 lengths.

Cono fell back to last place by the beginning of the stretch. Acclimate entered the stretch with a 1 1/2-length lead over North County Guy, who had moved into second. Heck Yeah had taken over third place and trailed North County Guy by two lengths.

North County Guy and Heck Yeah both overtook Acclimate in the stretch. North County Guy crossed the finish line a neck in front of Heck Yeah, who was 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Acclimate.

"It was great," Baltas said.

North County Guy had a winning time of 1:46.34. The first-place prize money brought his career earnings to $366,647. The win was his sixth in 28 career races and his first stakes victory in four stakes competitions.

Baltas has saddled North County Guy for 19 of those career races, and the Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes race was Baltas' third victory with the horse. Messineo and Sands claimed North County Guy in a July 2018 race at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and placed him with Baltas' barn.

North County Guy was foaled on March 29, 2015. He was sired by The Pamplemousse out of Warmth.

Howard passed away Sept. 3 at the age of 78. She had lived in Fallbrook since 1982 and had been associated with the San Luis Rey Training Center, which was previously known as the San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center, since 1975.

Howard was born in Los Angeles and raised in the San Joaquin Valley town of Lindsay before attending and graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She founded an employment agency for horse auction personnel and moved to Carlsbad in 1971. She started training horses at San Luis Rey in 1975 and obtained her California Horse Racing Board trainer's license in 1983.

In 2001, Howard became the general manager of the San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center and held that position until the facility closed for renovations in 2013. She had previously been the general manager of Valley Creek Farm in Valley Center.

Howard was the president of the San Luis Rey Downs Horsemen's Organization from 1995 to 2001. During her career, Howard served as president of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, the California Thoroughbred Farm Managers Association, the California Thoroughbred Trainers, and the Bonsall Chamber of Commerce.

Although the Leigh Ann Howard California Cup Oaks is not restricted to female trainers, Carla Gaines saddled Closing Remarks.