Santa Anita | Saturday, May 4th, 2024 | Race 2 |


#4 Hero Status (5/2) to Win and Place


You can draw a line through Hero Status's last race. The comment reads, "stumbled badly" at the start. It was also his first start off a long layoff and first time as a gelding. Flavien Prat didn't push him, and he lost by a significant margin of 17 3/14 lengths. However, Hero Status is the son of Flatter and his progeny tend to improve as they age. In the current field, Hero Status has the highest class rating, 15 points ahead of the morning line favorite, #3 Cowboy Mike. On August 22nd, 2022, at Del Mar, Hero Status defeated #1 Piroli by 6 ¼ lengths when he broke his maiden. He has hit the board in seven of his 12 career starts, with an impressive 5-for-6 record at Santa Anita. The Hall of Famer Mike Smith will return as the jockey, with all three of Hero Status's wins coming with him on the irons. This is the second time off the layoff and the second time running as a gelding. This is an excellent opportunity, provided Hero Status gets a clean start!


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